Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8
by Finley Splatterson
Summary: An Octoling girl with a unique hair color has found herself deep underground without any memory of how she got there. She doesn't know who she is, why she needs to perform tests, and she doesn't know who a certain boy from her dreams is. All she knows is that she's not gonna give up in her escape from the depths below. (Based on Octo Expansion DLC. Expect spoilers.)
1. Waking Up

_**AN**_ **: I HAVE RETURNED! And an Octo Expansion adaption decided to tag along with me. This story is gonna be interesting. For this one, I'm gonna be switching between our narrators again. Since I liked the idea last time, I decided to do it again. Now sit back, relax, and let's kick off the new story by introducing our new protagonist. Hope you enjoy it. (Oh, and it probably goes without saying, but expect spoilers if you don't have the DLC yet.)**

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Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 1: Waking Up

Darkness...that's all I saw...

I was floating in some kind of dark and seemingly endless void. I felt cold and seeing absolutely nothing all around me took its toll on my nerves.

"H-Hello...?" I tried to call out. I didn't hear anything...not even my own voice. I tried to feel my mouth and throat, but I was horrified at not feeling my body at all. I looked down and was even more horrified to see that my entire body wasn't visible either. It was strange. I couldn't see or feel my body, but I just knew I had one.

Now, I was completely scared. I was alone in a black void, and I had no physical body. I started breathing more quickly in fear and was about to panic, but something stopped me...

I started hearing the faint sound. It was a song...and it was really enticing. The song had voices singing in them...two of them to be exact...both feminine. Suddenly, I found myself humming along to it like I knew the song by heart. It felt empowering as it slowly became louder.

I then saw a blurry image in front of me. I could partially identify a piece of the image. It was...a boy. Somehow, he looked really familiar, but I didn't know why.

The song began to grow a lot louder. Along with it, the image I saw began to move. That boy was fighting something and shooting at them. As I tried to focus more on the boy's appearance, the image changed to a slightly more clear one of the same boy looking down at me. I could partially see that he was smiling a little and holding out his hand as if he wanted me to take it. My chest started pounding as I desired to reach out for his hand. As I did, that song grew even louder before everything went back to complete darkness and silence.

I found myself floating down and lying down onto a cold, hard ground. My head was hurting a lot, and my ears were ringing. As uncomfortable as that was, that told me I did have a body and was beginning to wake up.

"AHOY! OCTOLING!" a muffled voice yelled.

I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes.

"Up and at 'em, ya lazy whiffle-whaffle!" the voice ordered. "This fight ain't over! Prepare for a royal whoopin'!"

As my vision cleared, the first thing I saw was an elderly man with very large eyes and black glasses staring at me. He had a big gray beard, wore a strange green suit with some medals pinned on it and dark greenish gray shoes, and held a cane in one hand to support himself as he looked over me. He also wore a white hat and blocky headphones around his neck.

"Well?" he said somewhat impatiently. "What're you waiting for?"

I didn't move a muscle, but I stared at him in confusion. My mind was still fuzzy, and my headache was still going.

"Hmm..." the man continued in a calmer tone. "You seemed to have lost your weapon somewhere around here...so I guess you're lucky you're not armed. I don't see any honor in defeating an unarmed opponent."

He then looked around at his surroundings.

"Speaking of which...just where is 'here' anyway...?" he said in confusion. "From the looks of it, we seem to be marooned down in this place. And Agent 3 isn't anywhere nearby either. Well, looks like we're kinda stuck together here. So, uh...hows about we form a truce while we find away out of this place?"

I still looked at him in silence. I had no clue what he was talking about.

"But where are my manners...I haven't even told you my name!" he said with a chuckle. "I'm Cap'n Cuttlefish, leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon! And you are...?"

I wanted to answer, but...I didn't have one to give him because I didn't know it...

"This is the part where you tell me your name," he whispered.

I sat up slowly, shrugged, shook my head.

"You don't know?! By kraken...you must've lost your memory when you fell down here! Can you remember anything about yourself or how you got down here? Anything at all?!"

I tried to remember something, but nothing came to me. I shook my head again. I didn't have any of my memories.

"Most interesting..." he said while stroking his beard. "I must say it's fascinating to see an Octoling with white hair right in front of me."

"White hair...?" I thought. "Hang on...what do I look like exactly?"

"I noticed that you were humming the 'Calamari Inkantation' right before you came to..." he continued. "Since you're not attacking, that heavenly melody must've been etched into your very soul! Do you think that's it?"

I remained silent, but this time it was from surprise. That song I heard when I was sleeping played some part in this, but I couldn't remember what it was.

"I'll take your stunned silence as a 'yes'," Cap'n Cuttlefish said. "Any fan of the Squid Sisters is a friend of mine. I mean that with all my hearts. Now then, we need to get moving! Dust yourself off and find your land legs, young lady."

He then did a weird pose with his cane pointing in the air.

"Let find a way out of here!" he declared. He made his way forward.

"Young lady...?" I thought. "Well...at least I know I'm a girl..."

I slowly stood up and viewed my surroundings. Wherever we were had dim lights and exposed wires everywhere, and there was yellow caution tape sealing off various areas. This place had turnstiles that were closed off by the tape and one that was open to get by it. I looked up and saw a large hole in the ceiling with exposed metal beams. It looked like something fell through it, and I guessed that I was that something.

"Maybe I landed headfirst, and my memories were knocked out of me..." I thought.

"Ahoy! Are you coming?" the captain called to me.

I then walked to accompany him through the open turnstile. I looked to my left to see my reflection in a window of a small room.

I had brown skin, purple eyes with black markings around them, and tentacle hair that curled up slightly. It wasn't completely white like I expected. It was mostly pink, but the color started fading midway to the ends until they were completely white at the tips. I looked down at my outfit which consisted of a black, leather crop top with one long sleeve on my right arm, a small leather skirt, and black zip-up boots with gray heels. I then examined my actual body.

"Yep...definitely a girl..." I thought as I looked at it. "I really doubt that guys would have a figure or an outfit like this..."

For whatever reason, I also had some kind of yellow bracelet both on my wrist and around my ankle. I also had this odd tank on my back. I couldn't explain why, but I felt like I needed to keep it.

Cap'n Cuttlefish and I continued walking into what looked like an abandoned subway. The entire area was silent, and it was making me very anxious. We continued through the subway until we saw small puddles of pink ink on the ground. A bit of experimenting for a quick second let me know that I could change into a small octopus and swim in it. I thought that would come in handy. We continued into the dark tunnel.

"Um...M-M-M...?" I stammered quietly. For some reason, it took a lot of effort to be able to say anything to the captain.

"Ah, so you _can_ speak!" he said. "What took you so long?"

I shrugged.

"Well, you were saying?"

"H-H-How...?" I stuttered slowly. This really wasn't easy to do.

"How did we get here?"

I nodded.

"Hmm...I wish I could tell you. Last thing I remember was me and my protégé Agent 3 following you. You spotted us and took off running. Agent 3 and I pursued you, but I couldn't exactly keep up with you kids. When I caught up, you two were talking, but something came out of nowhere and ambushed all of us. When I woke up, I was down in here with you."

"A-A-A..." I got frustrated with trying to speak and held up a the number three on my hands.

"Agent 3? No idea where the boy is. I'm hoping he'll be okay, but he's a smart squid. I taught him everything I know, and he can look out for himself."

"Agent 3 is a boy?" I thought. "Could he have been the one in my dream?"

The two of us continued onward through the dark tunnel. Although a few very dim lights were scattered throughout it to give us some light in our path, I still really didn't want to continue, but it seemed to be the only way we could go. The two of us stayed close as we continued on.

Eventually, we saw a brighter light down the end of it.

"Well, it looks like we found a way out..." the captain said as we exited the tunnel. "Sort of..."

We ended up at an underground subway station. This looked like the central place for the trains to arrive. We got on the center platform and looked around. On both sides of the platform were the tracks. Absolutely no one was there. The only thing that really stood out was what looked like a strange-looking, old telephone on a pole at the very center of the place. A light shined on it, and it was ringing.

"That's peculiar..." he said. "What's a telephone like that doing here? And who could be calling it?"

I walked up to the telephone to try to answer it. It had two bells on it, a crank on one side, an earpiece on the other, and a speaker which I guessed was how one talks through it. I reached for it, but it suddenly stopped ringing.

"SEARCHING FOR USER ID..." it said in a robotic voice. I pulled my hand back in surprise. "USER 10,008 CONFIRMED."

"User 10,008?" I thought. I looked at the bracelet on my wrist and saw that this specific number was written on it. "Oh...but that can't really be my actual name...right?"

A little jingle played for a split second before the telephone spoke again.

"Greetings, 10,008," it said in a slightly less monotonous tone. "Your current location is: Deepsea Metro Central Station. My primary function is to facilitate your journey to the promised land. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

I looked at it in confusion.

It then made some more calculations about its efficiency in communicating with me. It then enabled a different mode of speech.

"What is crackalacking, home skillet? Let us bounce to the promised land fo sho," it said.

That left me even more confused.

"Listen up, cause I got facts for ya. You have spent your entire life in the dark. Your eyes closed to the hotness that awaits in the promised land. It is a utopia of light beyond your wildest dreams. Hope you are ready because I will take you there now. NOT! Ha Ha Ha. Psyche out."

"Is someone speaking through it or is this thing just really old and malfunctioning...?" I thought.

"Only those who have proven themselves can get in the promised land. Do you dig, dog? There have been 10,007 applicants so far which makes you applicant 10,008. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo. Right now, you are in Deepsea Metro Central Station, the central hub of the facility. Meaning you are going to need a CQ-80 and CQ Card."

A card dispensed from a little slot on the telephone and fell to the ground. A small device also popped out of from underneath the telephone.

"Guard them with your lizzife, because you will need them. Now get on and ride the train. Outie 5000."

The telephone powered down after that. I was still lost on what just happened, and the captain's face made it clear he was just as dumbfounded as I was.

"Okay..." he said slowly. "That was...something..."

I nodded.

"Applicant 10,008, eh? Really now, that can't be your real name, is it? It's a beakful."

I shook my head and shrugged.

"Well, I think I'll just call you...Agent 8. This 'promised land' must really be the surface. Just how underground are we? Okay, there's no time to waste! Come on, Agent 8. Grab those new dealie-dos, and let's keep moving."

I nodded and picked up the card and device. Suddenly, we heard the sound of something approaching. As it got closer, the area floor started rumbling a bit. A subway came through the tunnel and stopped by us. The door opened, and the two of us looked at each other.

"Well, I think this might be our next step. Let's get aboard," the captain said while walking onto the subway.

I didn't want to just walk on a random subway that'll take me who knows where, but I didn't want to be left alone in this place. I hesitantly joined the captain on the train, and the soon the doors closed behind me.

"Whew...I'm pooped, Agent 8. I'm gonna rest my cuttlebones for a bit," he said while taking a seat.

I nodded and took a seat across from him. I looked down at my card and the CQ-80 wondering what they were for.

I wasn't satisfied with anything I was told yet. I still had so many questions. How did we get down here? What did I need this card and device for?

And most importantly...

Who am I?

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 _ **AN**_ **: And thus Agent 8's journey begins. What's gonna happen next? You'll see.**

 **Until then, hope you enjoyed this chapter/introduction, and I'll see you in the next one.**


	2. First Test

_**AN**_ **: **Hope you enjoy this chapter.****

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Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 2: First Test

As the subway continued on, a little blue creature with a conductor's hat came from one of the doors leading to the car in front of us.

"Thank you for using Deepsea Metro today," he said. "I am your humble conductor, C. Q. Cumber."

"You've gotta be squidding me! A talking sea slug?!" the captain exclaimed in surprise.

"Pardon me? To be accurate, sir, I am a sea cucumber. I take it that this is your first time riding with us..."

He inched toward us and slightly lifted his front half up. One of his appendages extended a bit. (I guess that was his arm...)

"Here's the deal," he said. "We're currently in a vast underground facility operated by the Kamobo Corporation and transportation around here is handled proudly by the Deepsea Metro."

"So this subway is the only means of travel down here, eh?" the captain said.

"Precisely."

C. Q. Cumber turned to me.

"I see that you have a CQ-80 in your possession," he said. "That must mean you want to reach the promised land, correct?"

I nodded.

"That's right!" the captain said. "We want out of here!"

"Understood," the conductor said. "Well, unfortunately, this train is incapable of taking you there directly. But do not be alarmed. There is a way to get there."

"How?"

"As you know, the promised land is a paradise. Sadly, denizens of the depths such as myself are forbidden entry there. To reach it, you must pass a test located at each Deepsea Metro Station."

"Tests? What do tests have anything to do with getting out of here?"

"This facility consists of numerous tests chambers that are connected by the Deepsea Metro. Anyone seeking the promised land will have to ride the train lines searching for the four thangs."

"Four...'thangs'...?" I thought. "Doesn't he mean 'things'?"

"What are the four thangs?" The captain asked.

"They are four objects hidden on any of the train lines that you will need if you ever hope to reach the promised land," the conductor explained. "Once you collect all of them, the door to the promised land shall open."

"So all we gotta do is pass some tests, collect some thangs, and we're home free?"

"I believe so."

"This should be easy. What kind of tests are they?"

"They differ. However, many who have taken them have described them as quite challenging both physically and mentally."

"You hear that, Agent 8? You're gonna have to stay strong and keep your wits about you when you're going through these tests."

I was surprised at his statement. I didn't know his intention was to have _me_ go through all of these tests. I would've protested, but since I couldn't speak for some reason, I sighed heavily in defeat and nodded. Besides, we don't know what we might be up against, and I'd actually feel pretty bad if the captain got hurt somehow. I assumed I had no other choice.

"Allow me to show you to your first test," the conductor said. "Press that red button on your CQ-80."

I pressed it, and a large holographic screen came up.

"Oho! What in blazes?!" the captain said in surprise. "Technology these days..."

I fully agreed that it was interesting, but somehow I felt like I've seen advanced technology like this before. It was probably another faint memory I had.

"Now then," the conductor continued. "This is your Deepsea Metro map. Select a destination, and we will head there shortly."

There was only one orange dot available for me to choose. I selected it, and the screen vanished.

"Now, we will head to your destination. So take a seat, relax, and we will arrive shortly."

As he left the car we were in, I continued wondering what these tests involved if they were challenging. As I waited, I didn't take a seat and instead wandered around the car. I soon found a colorful book further in the back of it. It looked interesting, so I decided to read it to pass the time. It detailed many things in a city called Inkopolis.

"Inkopolis..." I thought. "Why does that place sound familiar?"

It showed pictures of squid-like people whom the book called Inklings. They were all dressed in more casual clothes, held multiple weapons of some kind, and genuinely looked like they were all having a great time enjoying their lives. I started to envy them. They were up above having fun and living life to the fullest, while I'm basically stuck down here.

Then something great happened. A very faint memory came back to me as I looked at it. I remembered longing for freedom...and wanting to experience a new and better lifestyle. As I looked through the book seeing all the cheerful (and pretty fashionable) people in it, I started wishing I was there myself.

"Oh, what do you have there?" the captain asked.

I brought him the magazine.

"Heh, an Inkopolis book. Strange to find one down here."

I pointed to him, then me, then to the magazine. I then pointed upward. This was my way of saying "Will we go to Inkopolis when we get to the surface?"

"You really ought to work on your speaking skills. You can't stay quiet forever."

I hung my head. Although, he didn't get what I meant, he was right. For some reason, I just couldn't speak fluently without it being a massive struggle. I felt like the captain and I would be together for a while which meant that I was going to have to speak up eventually. But what kept me from doing it now...?

* * *

Eventually, we stopped outside of a station.

"Hello, passengers," the conductor's voice said through a speaker. "We have arrived at Fake Plastic Station. Those who have selected this as your destination, I will be at the station platform waiting for you."

"I guess that's your cue, Agent 8," the captain said. "I'll be on here. But be careful. We don't know what lies ahead in this so-called 'test'..."

Of course, I was nervous and didn't want to face an unknown test like this, but I still headed off the subway to meet with the conductor.

C. Q. Cumber was waiting by a gate. Near him was a circular pad with shoe prints on it.

"Ah, there you are!" he said when he saw me. "Please step on the equipper."

I assumed that was the pad and walked onto it. Suddenly, I found myself in a glass tube with a weapon and bomb being projected onto the side of it. I recognized them from the book I saw: a Splattershot and Splat Bomb. Before I could ask what this was about, C. Q. Cumber explained.

"This is an equipper," he said. "For each test, the weapons that are available will be displayed. You will select one of your preference, and proceed through the test to accomplish the goal of the test. Go ahead and select it."

I looked at the weapon picture in confusion and pressed it. (I thought correctly. It was a touchscreen.) A Splattershot and a few Splat Bombs came out from under me, and I caught them as the tube went down. I finally understood why I had the tank on my back. These were meant for it. I hooked up the weapon to the tank.

"Excellent. Now, to explain how tests here work. You know that CQ card you received earlier? On it, you will find that there are CQ points. Those points are needed to take these tests, and depending on the weapon you choose, you will earn more points if you pass them. We gave you 1000 points to start off with. For this test in particular, you are to proceed from here to the goal at the end of the area using your weapon at your disposal."

I looked at the Splattershot in my hands.

"It sounds straightforward enough. But should you have any questions before starting on future tests, I will be here at the station platform to answer them. Do you have any for this test?"

I shook my head. It seemed pretty simple.

"Alright, then. Please head to the turnstyle, swipe your card, and the test shall begin."

I walked towards the turnstyle. I could see that the area ahead was slightly foggy and had trees. I took a deep breath, swiped the card, and the turnstyle opened. I found myself suddenly propelled forward and falling hard onto a pad with pink ink.

"Ow..." I groaned. I realized something at that moment. I shot up to my feet and covered my mouth.

"Did I just...speak?!" I thought. "Hmm...let me try again..."

I cleared my throat.

"Hello, I'm Agent 8," I said in a clear voice. I laughed and jumped excitedly for a second. "I knew it! I can talk!"

I heard a sound come from ahead of me which instantly gave me a fearful chill over my body.

"O-Okay..." I said quietly and uneasily. "M-Maybe I should t-tone it down for now...heh heh..."

I swallowed hard and walked ahead into the foggy forest. I could hear music playing through my CQ-80. It was a bit eerie, but it definitely set the tone of the place I was in (unfortunately). I looked up enough to notice that I was in some kind of dome. As I walked past a tree, I stopped to examine it for a second. Not only were there bags with tubes filled with a teal liquid hanging from them, but they also looked...plastic.

"Wait...are all of these things fake?" I thought. I felt it, and it was, in fact, completely made out of plastic. "I guess that's why this is called 'Fake Plastic Station'...this is just weird..."

I was slightly shaking with fear as I tightly held my weapon in my grasp. However, any noise I heard would make me jump in surprise and make me almost drop it. I knew for sure that I was NOT alone...

"Alright..." I thought to myself. "Get a hold of yourself, Eight. It's probably just your nerves acting up, and you're just imagining sounds out of fear of the unknown. I bet there's nothing even here."

I then heard someone shooting a weapon which made me freeze in my tracks. I looked up on a big pillar, and someone was standing on top of it. It was another Octoling girl like me, but her hair was a bit longer and curlier. She looked...different. She was wearing a strange-looking armor, and her skin was a sickly green color. Her hair was a blue-green color, and she was holding a weapon that looked similar to mine. She looked down from where she was standing and stared at me without saying a word.

"We're both the same species, right?" I thought. "Maybe she could help me."

"Target acquired," she said in a robotic voice. "Seek and destroy."

"W-Wait, destroy?!"

She started firing her weapon at me before launching into the sky and landing at my level. She started attacking me. I took off running and swimming for my life. I had the very distinct feeling that I wanted to avoid whatever that liquid was that she was shooting because I wasn't entirely certain that it was really ink. If it was, I still didn't want it to touch me at all. Something also told me that she wasn't going to try to be reasonable and stop attacking long enough for me to talk to her.

I fired my weapon to give myself room to swim or hide from her. I hid behind a wooden crate nearby and sank into my ink. Even when I was out of her line of sight, she still kept spreading her ink around the place.

"I don't understand," I thought while submerged in my ink. "Is she a part of the test or not? Well, I'll have to ask later. Same species or not, I have to get her to stop attacking long enough to get by her or I'll never finish this test. But still I don't think I'll get out of here without a fight..."

The other Octoling came closer to me which might've given me the perfect chance to counter attack. I peaked out to see where she was, and she was walking by the crate I was behind. I slowly crept up behind her and fired my weapon at her. She burst into a puddle of pink ink with a shriek. I sighed with relief.

"Whew..." I said. "W-Well, she's gone...but I feel like she wasn't the only one here..."

A gate opened up revealing another area with more trees. I assumed I did something right and proceeded through it.

"Seek and destroy," I heard a couple more voices say. I saw two more Octoling girls that looked just like the first one. These two held a giant rolling brush and a shotgun-like umbrella weapon. They launched down and started to attack me.

"Oh, dear..." I squeaked fearfully.

I took off running from the duo. As they came after me, I tripped and lost my grip on my shooter. It flew forward a short distance, and before I got up, they were a couple of feet away from me. I scrambled to get up and running again, and in the process, I dropped a Splat Bomb near me. It detonated at the moment when the pair almost got me. The blast was big enough to get rid of both of them. Once they were gone, I was breathing heavily while frozen in fear and confused at how fast things just went.

"A-Alright..." I said while trying to calm myself down. "That takes care of them...I hope..."

I got up to get my shooter. Once I did, I hurriedly went through another open gate. This time, I shot some ink down to at least give myself a place to hide. I saw another blue Octoling with a pair of small weapons come up on top of another pillar.

"At least it's just one this time..." I thought.

Suddenly, she jumped off the pillar, but she didn't attack me with those shooters. Instead, she became equipped with some kind of jetpack that shot out ink from the exhaust that kept her in the air. She fired large blasts of ink from a cannon while she was flying.

"One with a bigger weapon!"

I dodged the fire as much as possible. Eventually, I heard a high pitched beeping sound, and the jetpack exploded sending the Octoling flying up before she landed perfectly. She then started to attack with the two shooters. I hid in my ink again and got closer to her. I shot her, and she burst into ink like all the rest.

"Well, that...wasn't too bad, I guess," I said uneasily. "But what's with these Octolings? I thought that we were the same species. Why would they attack me? Were they sick or...something worse...?"

I continued on trying to remember more about my past hoping that I'd find an answer. Unfortunately, nothing came up. It was really frustrating to not remember anything about myself. Will I ever get them all back? Or were they gone forever? Only time will tell, but I hope I'll get an answer soon.

Eventually, I found some kind of floating disassembled gadget with a light shining under it. I tried to touch it, but there seemed to be a force field that knocked me back a little.

"Okay, so that didn't work," I said. "What do I do then?"

I then looked at my shooter.

"Well, it's got me this far. Couldn't hurt, right?"

I shot it with my ink, and it formed into a cylinder that sunk into a hole in the ground. I touched it, and it sunk down further locking into place.

"Test passed," C. Q. Cumber's voice said. I looked around to find him, but he wasn't anywhere. I picked up my CQ-80 and heard him again from it. "Now, head back here to receive your reward."

"All the way back to the start?" I thought. "Hmm...why don't I try this...?"

I turned into my octopus form, built up a lot of ink pressure, and launched myself to the subway. I landed on the equipper pad which encased me in the tube again. A red light scanned me.

"Excellent work," the conductor said. He was by the subway ready to open the door to it. "For passing the test, you get more CQ points. And this little memento..."

A small, soft object came out of a small tray. It looked like a 3D printed version of a 2D picture of an Inkling girl with orange hair. The tube then went down, and my weapon and bombs were taken away, too.

"That would be a mem cake," he explained. "It's a compressed piece of memory that you get when you complete tests."

I picked it up and examined it more closely.

"You mean...this is one of my memories?" I thought. "So...if it's a cake...do I eat it and some of my memories come back?"

I prepared to eat it.

"Uh, I wouldn't eat that if I were you!" the conductor said hurriedly. "They're more for collecting."

I stopped and walked back onto the train. The captain was nearby still on his seat looking at the same book on Inkopolis.

"Ah, Agent 8," he greeted me when he noticed that I was back. "I take it that the test went well?"

I nodded and sat down by him.

"Well, once you find your voice, you'll have to tell me about it."

I smiled a little and continued to look at the little cake in my hands. After all that I went through, this was the main thing I probably needed. But if this test was just the beginning, I'm not too excited for what the next one will be...

* * *

 _ **AN**_ **: Well, with her first mission a success, Agent 8's quest is just beginning. What's next for her? Keep reading and find out.**

 **(Also, gonna make this clear. I love each of my characters, but the only ones that play a prominent role in this are 8 and Fin, so don't expect the others to come into this until at very least the end of the story. I still am gonna make this somewhat close to the actual in-game story. Sorry to disappoint if you were expecting them, but I felt like I really had to say it.)**

 **Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	3. Unseen Allies

_**AN**_ **: And here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it.**

* * *

Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 3: Unseen Allies

As I was still trying to relax after the test, I heard a staticky sound come from the captain.

"Eh? I hear something!" he said. He pulled out an old radio. "Maybe it's Agent 3. Hello?!"

"MIC CHECK, ONE-TWO, WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!" a loud female voice shouted through it.

"Excuse me?!"

"Didn't see that coming..." I thought. "But judging from his reaction, that probably isn't Agent 3..."

"Pearl!" another softer female voice said. "Didn't anyone teach you to respect your elders?!"

"What in the world?" the captain said. "Who am I speaking to? State your names!"

"Uh, I think I asked you first, dude," the louder voice said. "But whatevs. I'm Pearl, but you can call me MC Princess!"

She then began to make a rap describing herself. I don't exactly remember how it went, but it wasn't bad, I think. Once she was done, the captain looked at the radio in surprise and a bit of eagerness.

"Oh! Check it, kid. Are you stepping to me with a rap battle?" he said. "MC Craig in the house!"

"Wait. His first name is Craig?" I thought as I stifled a laugh.

He began to make a few rhymes about himself, too. This left me completely confused because I didn't expect him to join in with her. They continued to rap until the softer voice over the radio spoke up.

"Okay, you two, that's ENOUGH!" she said in a slightly more serious tone. This caused them both to stop immediately.

"It was...interesting while it lasted..." I thought with a small smile.

"Mr. Cuttlefish, was it?" she continued.

"That's me alright," he said.

"We found a radio here and heard your transmission. Right now, Pearl and I are on Mt. Nantai."

"Mt. Nantai...why that's near Octo Valley where this whole mess started! Agent 8 and I were near there when someone...or something took us deep underground."

"Oh...I see. Do you know exactly where you are?"

"Unfortunately, we don't..."

"Sorry to hear that...but worry not! From now on, you'll have me, Marina-aka DJ_Hyperfresh, supporting you! And I'm sure my partner Pearl will lend a hand or two as well. Right?"

"Definitely!" Pearl said. "But to be honest, I really don't get what's going on, but hang tight. We totally got you!"

"Okay," the captain said. "Anyone who loves rapping is a friend of mine. Thanks for the help!"

"I'll get to work analyzing your surroundings," Marina said. "Hopefully, we'll be of some help to you both."

"In the meantime, we're going to keep testing."

"Testing?" Pearl asked.

"We have to pass these odd tests of some sort and collect some thangs to reach the promised land. We guess that the promised land means the surface."

"Hmm...sounds a little fishy to me...what do you think, Agent 8?"

I shrugged and tried to speak into the radio. Still, nothing came out.

"Helloooooo? You guys still there?" Pearl said.

"You'll have to excuse Agent 8," the captain explained. "She can't speak for some reason."

"Did she hurt her throat or what?"

"Maybe she's just shy?" Marina added.

"She just...chooses not to speak, I guess," the captain said.

I sighed heavily.

"What is wrong with me?!" I thought in annoyance. "I can speak when by myself, but something's holding me back whenever I'm around others. I know I didn't forget _how_ to talk to people...right...?"

"Well, whatever," Pearl said. "She doesn't have to talk if she doesn't want to. We can respect that."

"Absolutely," Marina agreed.

So far, these two seem alright. Maybe they can help us...I hope...

"And...got it!" Marina announced after a few minutes.

"What?" the others asked.

"I've managed to locate you guys through something one of you have. It's apparently called a...'CQ-80'?"

I pulled the device out and saw a teal light blinking from it.

"Ah, the little gadget that Agent 8 picked up," the captain said.

"Okay, so Agent 8 has that. I can communicate with you guys through that and the radio now which means if you guys are going through separate tests, you both can hear us."

"Well, when I said 'We have to pass tests', I meant you, Agent 8. You understand that, right?"

I nodded. (However, in my head, I was really beginning to get annoyed with how he was making _me_ do everything. He's old, sure, but he could probably do _something_ , right?) I pulled out the map of the train lines and selected another test at random. In hindsight, I should've looked more closely to see that this next test was shown as a square rather than a circle. Nonetheless, we eventually ended up at that specific testing area.

* * *

Once I got off at the station, I met with the conductor again. This time, the equipper gave me a weapon called a Splash-o-matic without any bombs.

"Now then, here's your next test," he said. "This one is a bit different from the last one. You need to guide the 8-ball to the goal found in this area. It may sound a little easy, but these can get a little challenging. You're going to have to exercise caution and be strategic about where you roll it. Be careful out there and good luck."

I nodded in thanks and paid my points to get past the gate. I was unexpectedly launched out again from the gate and almost crashed into a large ball with an 8 on it.

"Oh..." I muttered. "Guide the '8-ball' to the goal. Now, I get it."

"Whoa! That thing's huge!" Pearl exclaimed. "AND IT'S ROLLING AWAY!"

The force of me bumping into it had made it start rolling forward and down a small incline. Ahead of it were two blue creatures that looked like sentient tentacles with dark eyes eyes and legs. They were mindlessly spreading more of that teal goo on the ground before they began shooting the 8-ball and knocking it around.

I walked up to them, and once they noticed me, they started to fire at me. Their shots were slow, and I managed to step to one side to avoid them both.

"Okay...like those Octolings, these things are hostile," I thought. "Yet, they also look familiar. Except for the color..."

I shot them, and they burst into my ink quickly. They were easier to deal with than the Octolings which put me at ease a bit.

"Those looked like Octarians..." Cuttlefish said. "But they seemed a bit...off..."

"Yeah..." Marina said uneasily. "Hang on..."

After a brief moment of silence while I pushed the 8-ball through the stage to get to the goal, Marina gasped.

"What is it?!" Pearl asked.

"Th-those Octarians didn't show any vital signs on my scanners..." Marina said. "How's that even possible...?"

"No vital signs?! You mean those guys are...UNDEAD?!"

"I'm not sure that's it, but...it's still very strange..."

"This keeps getting weirder and weirder..."

"Stay on your guard, Agent 8. There's bound to be more ahead. And watch out for places without rails. You don't want that ball to fall off the stage you're on."

"Fall off the stage?" I thought. I peered over a railing to see that the entire area that I was in was floating in mid-air. Down in the depths was nothing but a dark abyss. My stomach tightened, and I instinctively gripped the railing tightly as I looked down. The more I looked at the darkness, the more it seemed to actually creep upward toward me. My legs shook uncontrollably, and I fell back and slid away from the edge.

"Agent 8?" Cuttlefish asked worriedly. "Are you alright?"

I tried to say "Yes", but all that came out was a fearful whimper. My hearts were racing fast but were slowly starting to calm down.

"What happened?" Pearl asked.

"I saw that reaction she had," Marina said sympathetically. "Agent 8 must not like heights."

"Pull yourself together, Eight!" Pearl said. "You gotta pass this test!"

I stood up, but my legs were still shaking a little. I was thankful that they were concerned for me, but it wasn't the height of where I was that scared me. It was that abyss. The creeping darkness seemed to give me a feeling of absolute fear. It was almost as if something in the dark was lurking just waiting to pull me back into it...

I shook my head to focus back on the mission. I quickly caught up to the ball which had continued rolling a little closer to the edge of the platform I was on.

I carefully navigated it by shooting it with my weapon. It was surprisingly a little difficult to keep it from rolling off the edges.

Eventually, I could see neon lights with an 8 on them that matched the one on the ball.

"That must be the goal!" Marina said. "Hurry and roll the ball there!"

I moved the ball forward and saw a teetering platform bridging the way between me and the goal. I tried pushing the ball onto the platform, but I misjudged the space between it and the platform I was on. The ball then fell down into the depths below.

"Uh-oh..." I thought fearfully. "If I drop the 8-ball, do I fail the test?"

Suddenly, I heard a rapid beeping sound along with the sound of something inflating behind me. I turned to see a big white sack filling up quickly with that turquoise goo.

"What is that?!" I thought as I tried to get away from it. I then had a horrible realization. That device was strapped to my ink tank. As I scrambled to try to pull it off, I ended up falling forward.

In the end, my struggling was useless. The sack couldn't contain any more of that goo. I screamed in terror as the thing exploded. The blast was so strong that my entire body went numb for a few minutes. I found myself in my octopus form floating in pink ink. I was confused. I carefully poked my head out from where I was and noticed another 8-ball in front of me.

"Agent 8?! Come in, Agent 8!" Cuttlefish said worriedly.

"Wait, I see her!" Pearl said. "She's okay!"

"What a relief..." Marina said with a sigh. "What happened?"

"She dropped the ball off the stage."

"You gotta be squiddin' me!" Cuttlefish said. "A forced splatting as a punishment?!"

"What a load of bull sharks!" Pearl exclaimed angrily.

"Pearl! Language!" Marina gasped. "But, really, though, you're right. That's not fair! You're forced to be splatted if you fail a test?"

"My apologies," C. Q. Cumber's voice said through the device. "That's the fail-safe feature issued to testers. If you fail an attempt at a test, that detonator will activate so you can either restart from the beginning or the last checkpoint. If you were to check your CQ-80, you will see that you have two more attempts remaining for this test. Please do be more careful next time."

I sighed heavily as I checked my CQ-80. Sure enough, it had three icons that looked like small octopi, and one of them was gone.

"Lovely..." I thought. "I guess from now on, I'll have to take these tests even more seriously than ever. I don't even want to know what happens if I lose all three attempts..."

I pushed the ball back to the teetering platform.

"Wait...I can't just push it over..." I thought while looking around. I found some kind of box with a balloon inside slightly covered in my ink. Whatever memory that was trying to come back to me gave me a strange feeling that I should open that box and use that balloon. I rolled the ball over near it.

"I see a balloon fish in there!" Marina said. "But you're gonna need a key to get it out of that box..."

"I see it! It's up there!" Pearl said.

I looked up on steel girders to see a large key on top of them surrounded by a few more of those strangely-colored Octarians.

"It's pretty far up there..." the captain said.

"Yeah..." Pearl agreed. "And after seeing how Agent 8 reacted to looking over the edge of that stage, I doubt she'd want to climb up there."

"Isn't there another way?"

"Hmm...maybe I can..." Marina mumbled. Suddenly, the box opened. "I-I got it! I actually got it opened!"

"Nice, Marina!" Pearl cheered.

"Oho! Splendid!" the captain cheered.

I breathed a small sigh of relief. I looked at the ball and the teetering platform trying to time it just right. My instincts told me to shoot the balloon, and I did when the edge of the tilting platform nearest to us was down. It exploded and launched the ball forward to the platform. It rolled onto the platform on the other side and rolled into the goal.

"Test passed!" the conductor announced. "Well-done."

"Nice work, Eight!" everyone cheered as I launched back to the start of the testing area. As a reward this time, I got a mem cake that looked like one of those Octarians. However, this one was a reddish color. It looked kinda cute honestly...

I boarded the subway again and met up with the captain.

"Oho! Agent 8, you've done it again! Great work!" he congratulated me.

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Pearl said. "But let's not leave Marina out of this. She did great with that hacking trick to open the box that balloon thing was in."

"Oh...i-it was nothing..." Marina said bashfully. "Agent 8 didn't like high places, so...I decided to help her out...it's no big deal..."

I know she did it out of concern for a fear I didn't have, but I still appreciated the help. I had to let her know I was grateful for her help somehow. I took a deep breath and held the captain's radio.

"Hmm? What's the matter, Agent 8?" he asked.

I mustered together as much energy as I could.

"Th-Th-Thank...y-y-you..." I managed to say. It came out in a slightly squeaky voice which made me feel a little embarrassed.

"SHE SPOKE!" Pearl exclaimed.

"I...couldn't exactly catch what she said, though..." Marina said.

"She said 'thank you'," the captain said.

"Oh! Uh, y-you're welcome, Agent 8!"

"Yeah!" Pearl added. "We said we were gonna help in any way we can! You didn't doubt us, did ya?"

I shook my head as I sat down.

As the others continued to talk, I got lost in my thoughts trying to remember my past. I thought back to when I was overcome with fear at looking at the darkness.

"I have a fear of the dark..." I thought. "Of all things, how could I forget that? Was it really a fear of that or something else in the dark...?"

I sat back and sighed. This was way too confusing. My thoughts then shifted to Agent 3 (I at least assumed the boy from my dream was him.)

"And him...I feel like I should know him. It's almost like he played a big part in my life...but I don't remember how..."

My hearts started beating faster, and I felt my face warm up as I thought about him. My hair tentacles slightly curled up a little more than normal unconsciously. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I wanted to see Agent 3 again especially if he was important...

The captain noticed me.

"Agent 8?" he asked. "You seem a little flustered. Are you alright?"

I tried to calm myself down. I then held up three fingers.

"Three? OH! Agent 3? You're wondering about him, aren't ya?"

I nodded.

"You're not alone. I really am wondering how he's doing...and if he's okay..."

I nodded again a bit more uneasily. I hoped he was doing okay, too...

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ **Well, Off the Hook has finally arrived to provide some help to the cap'n and Agent 8, the mysteries of Eight's past are gonna keep unfolding, and Fin is still out of the picture at the moment...let's change that in the next chapter.**

 **If you wanna know how it's going for him, you guys are gonna have to wait...(Sorry. Losing time due to college which is why this hasn't updated for a bit. Don't worry, when I get more time, expect more chapters to appear frequently.)**

 **Until then, I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	4. Rising to Roll Out

_**AN:**_ **I return! And with another chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 4: Rising to Roll Out

As soon as I opened my eyes, I could faintly hear the sound of someone...screaming. It was a terrible scream of fear, and it sounded like a girl's voice. In the dark room that I found myself in, I made out the shape of a girl in front of me. I barely recognized her, but something in my brain told me I knew her. Just as I was trying to approach her, the girl ended up being grabbed by a large tentacle, and she screamed as it pulled her away. I wasn't the kind of person to leave someone in the clutches of some creature like this, so I tried to follow her. I moved much slower than I thought I was. As I suddenly moved at normal speed again, I was already too late to get to her. Needless to say, I was getting scared...

"Alright, Fin," I thought trying to calm myself. "You've gotta be having some kind of nightmare...that's gotta be the only explanation for this..."

Suddenly, I felt something cold wrap around my arm and then around my neck. It started tightening its grip and pulling me somewhere. I tried to get free from its grasp, but it was in vain. I struggled frantically to break free, but once it began to pull me down into a dark pit, I fully began to panic.

It was the moment it managed to bring me into the pit that shocked me awake.

"AAH!" I yelled as I sat up quickly. "W-What was that?! And who was that?! What's going-?!"

I stopped when I realized that I was actually awake this time, but I was still the only one around.

"Okay..." I said while trying to calm my rapidly pounding hearts. "Alright...it was only a really vivid nightmare..."

I slowly stood up and looked around at my current location. I was in some kind of facility that kinda reminded me of a sci-fi horror film.

"Whoa...where am I...?" I said. "And how'd I even get down here...?"

Recalling what happened in my dream, I realized that it wasn't just any dream. It was me remembering what happened that made me wind up here. I thought long and hard about what happened.

"Okay...let me piece this together..." I thought. "What happened today...? I remembered traveling with Cap'n Cuttlefish up to Mt. Nantai. At one point or another, while I was telling him about my last adventure, we ended up running into...HER!"

I remembered that Octoling girl with white hair and meeting her during my adventure with the other agents in Octo Canyon. Only question I had when I saw her recently was why she was there on the mountain to begin with.

I remember her distinctly, too, since she was in better light. Her hair was pure white when we first noticed her. She also had...for a lack of a better way to say it...a rather shapely figure. I think I was the first to spot her, and she ran off. I didn't want to hurt her, but the cap'n thought she was an enemy and told me to go after her anyway. I went after her, and when I had caught up to her, her hair had changed to pink with white tips. I remembered trying to speak to her, but...

"That thing that came out of that hole by us..." I thought. "It took her down there, and it took the cap'n, too. I guess it took me at some point...but why?"

I walked forward and accidently kicked my Hero Shot. When I picked it up, it felt slightly warm which let me know it had been used a fairly recently.

"Well, at least I know I put up a fight against whatever that was..."

A blinking light nearby caught my eye. It came from a blue device. As I approached it, a card next to it also caught my attention. I picked them both up and examined them.

"I wonder what these are," I thought.

I pressed a button on the device, and a holographic screen showed up with a loading bar. Above the bar read "Kamobo Co. Employee Model CQ-80". Once it finished loading, the screen showed a video of what looked like a sea cucumber with a conductor's hat.

"Hello, new employee," he said. "I am pleased to inform you that you are now working for Kamobo Co. as a new subject for tests. As one of thousands of test subjects working here, you are tasked with the important job of performing tests for the company which we will use for further research in our studies. These tests will be challenging, but they will be a beneficial to our work. To begin, please head onto the Deepsea Metro to find a station to carry out your test. Once you find it, select your testing destination and complete the test. We wish you the best of luck, and thank you once again for choosing Kamobo Co. as your new workplace. We're sure you will enjoy it here."

The message cut out. Naturally, I was confused.

"Okay...that was...something..." I thought. "I can't be taking tests. I need to find the cap'n and that Octoling. But...I don't know where to start..."

The CQ-80 beeped and displayed a map with a prominent point showing where I was currently. Above the map were several icons, and one of them showed an alert. I selected it, and it showed a newly made chatroom.

"This could come in handy later..." I thought. I set up a name for myself. I just named myself "Agent 3".

I went back to the map and selected a destination on one of the tracks.

"I wonder how long until-" A train came rushing from a nearby tunnel and stopped. "Until that arrives..."

I ran over to the train and boarded it.

* * *

I'm probably not the first to say this, but the passengers on the train were...fairly strange-looking. And that's coming from a squid who can shapeshift. There were different-looking jellyfish and fish people, and as I walked through them to find a seat, they all kept giving me odd looks. For once, I was glad it wasn't because of my eye color, but it may have been because I was the only passenger wearing a bright-blue and black suit and a dark cape and headset while everyone else was either in casual or business wear. I looked like I was trying to cosplay as some kind of videogame or comic book character.

I took a seat, and soon, the train moved.

"Hmm..." I thought. "While it's cool that I'm able to board this thing, what kind of metro doesn't require a ticket to board it?"

Of course, I had many more questions pertaining to my current situation, but the only thing I was focused on was finding where the cap'n and that girl were. I figured that staying where I landed wasn't gonna help me find them. Getting on the metro might help me cover more ground and probably help me learn a thing or two about where I was.

Soon, the train stopped. An announcer said that we had reached a station, but the name of the station made no sense to me.

"What the halibut is 'Roll Out Station'?" I thought. I looked at my CQ-80 to view my destination. Sure enough, that was my stop.

I got off the train and found myself looking at a gate.

"What kind of tests did that sea cucumber say I was taking?" I thought. "Or did he 'accidentally' leave out some details?"

I walked off the train to go through the gate. Before I did, a tube surrounded me once I stepped on a strange pad. In front of me on the glass, a Baller special weapon icon appeared.

"A Baller?" I thought. "Oh, I get it. These tests must be more physical than mental."

I selected the Baller as my special weapon and assumed that it was set once the tube went away. I got up to the gate, scanned my card, and suddenly was launched out through the gate into a pink respawn point. I instinctively changed colors to match it, but the weirdest thing happened. Somehow, the Baller activated and I got stuck in it.

"Wait a minute! Why am I in this?!" I said in surprise. "I didn't activate it."

"To complete the test, you must get to the end of this stage before time runs out," an announcer said. "You are restricted to the Baller special which is active at all times."

"So this thing is permanent until I finish this test?! Seriously?!"

"Time starts now."

"What?!"

A timer showed up on the baller and was starting to count down. It was going pretty fast, too. I didn't have time to stop and think about what was happening so I started rolling myself forward as quickly as I could. At first this was easy, but then I saw that this wasn't simply a speed course. It was a whole obstacle course.

First up were platforms that required me jumping over small gaps to land on them safely. That wasn't too bad, but seeing the seemingly endless pit I could fall into made me uneasy. I ran over another respawn point that gave me a couple of extra seconds. There were multiple ramps that I had to use if I wanted to reach another area. At one point, I was launched to a wall and had to scurry up the wall using the Baller. Kinda frightening, but I managed. What got me a bit unnerved was the strange-looking teal Octarians that I had to splat to get by.

"I had a feeling these guys would still be involved in this somehow..." I thought. "But I wonder what's with the new look. Did they fall down here and get sick or something?"

I passed them and was almost knocked off the platform by a spinning stick of teal ink. I liked the color, but it was being a nuisance at the moment. I managed to jump over it and get to my next destination. Upon reaching the destination, I found two more spinning ink sticks in my path.

"Of course...it never gets easier..." I said tiredly. Rolling around in a Baller is surprisingly strenuous. Nevertheless, I still jumped over the other sticks.

Upon jumping down to another platform to reach another respawn point, I saw more moving platforms with ink sticks ahead of me. Ahead on a higher platform, I could see more of those weird Octarians guarding some shining object. I took a deep breath to gather my energy and ran, jumped, and climbed up to it. Once I reached the top, I detonated the Baller to get rid of the guards and exhaustedly rolled into that shining object.

"Test passed!" I heard the announcer say. The Baller dispersed, and I launched back to the station entrance. I fell to my knees and breathed heavily.

"Phew...that was...harder than I thought..." I said while trying to catch my breath. "Although...I guess that's why those things have a time limit in Turf Wars...that and to keep players from abusing its power, of course."

Some small soft trinket bounced off my head and fell to the floor. It looked like an Inkling girl with short pink hair.

"I don't know what this is..." I said. "But I have a strange feeling I should keep it..."

As I pocketed the little object, I heard the train rumble a bit. That sound made me freeze in realization.

"Oh, no...don't tell me..." I said as I looked up. The train had started moving. "WAIT! I'm not on yet!"

I didn't know why yelling would help because obviously it didn't stop the train from speeding away leaving me at the station.

"Great. Just great..." I groaned. "Now what am I gonna do?"

I noticed a tunnel on the other side of the tracks. I figured that exploring the place instead of just riding the rails would give me more answers as to where I was. And I could hopefully find the cap'n and that Octoling. I crossed the tracks and went down the tunnel.

As I explored the tunnel, I decided to check out what else was on the CQ-80. Other than the chatroom and map of the metro lines, I found another map showing more floors to the facility. I seemed to be in the lowest level, but from what I could understand, if I were to find a way out of here, I would have to find a way up to the top floor and I'll be home free. But I'm not just gonna leave the cap'n and the Octoling down here. With any luck, I should be able to find them soon. I hope...

"I wonder how they're doing anyway..." I thought as I continued on.

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ **Looks like Fin's giving his thoughts on the situation out now, but moments with him narrating are gonna be a bit more scarce in this. That doesn't mean he's not gonna give his two cents on the problem every once in a while.  
**

 **Until then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	5. Reaching New Heights

_**AN:**_ **And now it's time to go back and see what Agent 8 and Cuttlefish are up to. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 5: Reaching New Heights

Agent 8 here again.

As the captain and I rode on the subway, Marina spoke to us through our respective devices about an idea she had.

"So I've been thinking..." she said. "How do you guys feel about me making a chatroom? You know, so we can keep talking even if something happens to our radios."

"Great idea!" Pearl said. "Maybe Eight can use it to actually say more than a couple of words to us."

"Actually...that does sound like a good idea..." I thought.

"Well, I'm all for it," the captain said.

"Great! It'll be ready in a little," Marina said. "Give me a few minutes, and it'll be up and running. Meanwhile, Agent 8, you should probably check to see if there are any more tests to take care of."

She was right. I needed to find more tests to take. Hopefully, one that'll be a bit easier. I checked the map to see, but I noticed a certain spot on the map that was bigger. It also appeared to be pulsating on the screen.

"What do we have here?" the captain said. "Looks like something important."

I tried to select it, but it appeared to be blocked off from my selection. A station called "Righteous Rails Station" was close to it, and it was available. I selected that to see if there was some other way to get to it on foot.

"If the first station I went to was named for its fake trees, I wonder what kind of rails this name refers to..." I thought.

As we rode to my next destination, a new icon came onto my CQ-80 screen.

"And the chatroom is live!" Marina announced happily. "Feel free to join in, everyone."

We all (with a little technical help from Marina) made our screen names and joined in the room. Marina and Pearl used "DJ_Hyperfresh" and "MC Princess" respectively, the captain used "CraigCuttlefish", and I just made mine "Agent 8".

Messages of us joining the chatroom came up. (This'll be a little weird considering that they're typing at this point. But I'll adjust it to make it simpler.)

"Alright, is everyone here?" Marina began in the room. "Oh, wait, I see the joined the room messages. My bad!"

"BAHAHA! Dude just used his first and last names!" Pearl said. "Gotta love old people."

"Hi, Captain Cuttlefish! Can you see the chatroom okay?"

"I CAN SEE IT JUST FINE. THANKS FOR ASKING," he said. They ended up explaining how to turn off the cap locks.

"Okay..." Marina continued. "What about you, Agent 8?"

I hesitated a little before typing in my message. (Luckily, my CQ-80 had a small, hidden keypad to type with.)

"I can see it," I typed. I felt a little giddy inside knowing that I can communicate this way now.

"AYYY! Her first full sentence with more than two words!" Pearl said. "Finally!"

"This should be a good substitute for you if you're not able to speak to us verbally," Marina said. "I hope it'll work for you."

"This should be fine. Thank you, Marina," I responded.

"No problem!"

"By the way, Eight, I've been wondering..." Pearl said. "Anything on your mind that you've been wanting to say?"

"Not really..." I typed. I gave it some thought. "Well...maybe something..."

"Like what?" Marina asked.

"More or less, this is for the captain...what does Agent 3 look like?"

"My memories are a bit messy..." he said. "I can't seem to recall entirely..."

"Who's Agent 3?" Pearl asked. "A friend of yours?"

"My protégé. He and I went to Mt. Nantai, and that's where we met Agent 8. After that, we all wound up down here."

"How do you forget what your own student looks like?! That's messed up!"

"Must've hit my head or something. I know he's a boy. He also has a distinct feature physical on him...but I don't remember what..."

I thought back to my dream.

"...Um...red eyes?" I typed.

"Yes! That's it! He had red eyes as well!"

"Red eyes, huh?" Pearl said.

"Hmm..." Marina said. "Why does that sound familiar...?"

"Now that you mention it...it kinda does..."

"Yeah...didn't we meet a boy with red eyes a while back?"

"I feel like we did. But still, it shouldn't be that hard to find someone like that. What made you wonder about him, Eight?"

"Come to think of it...Agent 8's been wondering where the boy is for some time now," the captain said. "She asked me about him after the first test."

"I think I saw him in my dreams..." I said. "I had an image of him in my head while I was still unconscious."

"Ooooooh...he's literally 'the boy of your dreams', huh?" Pearl teased. "You have a little thing for him, Eight? Heh heh..."

I felt my face warm up and my tentacles involuntarily curl up again.

"No, I don't!" I typed quickly. "He's been one of the prominent things I remember since I lost most of my memories. I just wanted to know more about him."

"Suuuuure...whatever you say."

"Pearlie..." Marina said.

"I'm just joking."

"Anyway...can we change topics please?" I typed trying to move from this subject.

"Sure...what's up?"

"I think I found one of the four Thangs."

"Really?" Marina said. "Great!"

"AWESOME!" Pearl said.

"Yeah, but the problem is I can't get to it..." I continued. "It's blocked off for some reason..."

"Blocked off?" Marina asked. "Let me check this out..."

"How can a station be blocked off?" Pearl asked. "Construction or something?"

"From what I see, Eight, it's blocked off because no one finished a test that was next to it. If you or someone can complete that test, you can unlock it and find the Thang."

"Unlock? What is this? A video game?"

(It's insignificant to mention this, but for whatever reason it may be, I got a slight chill when Pearl mentioned this whole situation being like a video game. It was kinda cold down here, so maybe that's why I felt that.)

"I can assure you that this is not a game," the captain said. "We're on our way to the station nearest to that one. In fact, we're almost there."

On cue, C. Q. Cumber announced that we were arriving at the station.

"Okay. Well, we got a plan..." Marina said. "Give it all you got in this next test, Agent 8! We know you can do it!"

"Yeah! Show this test who's boss!" Pearl said.

"I'll try my best..." I said.

I closed the screen.

"Good luck, Agent 8," the captain said to me verbally.

I nodded in thanks and exited the train.

* * *

I stepped on the equipper, and this time it gave me three choices: a normal Splattershot, a Jet Squelcher, and a Bamboozler. I decided to stick with the Splattershot since I didn't know what the other weapons were like. I walked toward the gate with C. Q. Cumber next to it.

"This is Righteous Rails Station," the conductor said. "For this test, you're going to have to use the rails beyond this gate and break all the target crates along the way. You have no time limit, but this is still quite tricky. It would probably be best if you don't miss a box as well. Good luck."

I nodded in thanks to him and prepared to go through the turnstile.

"Oh, right, and one more thing," he continued. "You might not want to take any damage in this test or fall down. You have one attempt at this test. I suggest extreme caution, but you may come back to retry it again so long as you have enough CQ points to enter the gate."

I nodded again, but the extra stakes for this test began making me anxious. I only had one chance to take this test, but if it hasn't been completed yet, that must mean either I'm the first to attempt it or this one was too difficult for others to finish. I swallowed hard and proceeded through the gate.

After getting launched out once again, I landed on a pink respawn point and saw a matching rail floating a short distance ahead of me. I also saw a launchpad ahead of me on the platform I stood on.

"Okay, Agent 8, you have 30 crates to break" Marina said through the CQ-80. "Looks like you'll be using grind rails. Once you hop on them, you'll move forward automatically in your swimming form and grind on top in your normal form."

"Grind? Wait a second..." I thought. I looked down at my boots which were definitely not suited for this kind of thing. "There's no way I can grind in these..."

"Aw, man, that sounds so cool!" Pearl said. "I wish I could ride those."

"But to break the crates, you'll have to stay standing up to shoot your weapon at them."

"Hope you have good balance, Agent 8," the captain said. "Good luck."

I moved closer to the launchpad, but I once again noticed the bottomless pit below me. I felt myself tense up, and I began to shake and moved away from the edge in fear. I looked ahead to see a couple of boxes close to the rail.

"Okay, Eight..." I thought to comfort myself. "It's only 30 crates...on a constantly moving railing...above a dark, bottomless abyss that'll steal your soul if you fall into it..."

I paused and mentally kicked myself.

"Oh, stop that! That's not gonna happen! There's a lot at stake, and if I don't get rid of this ridiculous fear, I won't get anywhere. Besides, it can't be that bad...right?"

I looked down again at the abyss then shook my head to stop and look away. I was still terrified, and the fact that my entire body was shaking was enough to tell me that.

"J-J-Just...don't l-look down..." I mumbled repeatedly to myself. I looked ahead at the rail. I took a really deep breath to calm myself, sank into the launchpad in my octopus form, and launched over to the rail. No turning back now...

I landed on the rail in my octopus form and started riding along with the flow of ink. The inside of it was like a big tube of rushing ink. As much as I didn't want to do it, I changed back to my normal form and found my balance on the rail. Just as I did, I saw a crate on some kind of spinning object with teal ink coming from it. And I was about to pass it. My reflexes kicked in, and I shot it, and it broke pretty easily. It sounded like it was made out of some kind of glass.

"Look out, Eight!" everyone exclaimed.

I looked forward to see another crate on a spinning ink thing in my path. I broke the crate and jumped over the spinning thing. I landed back on the rail in my octopus form. I breathed a short sigh of relief before noticing that the rail was about to end. Next to me, another rail appeared and ran in the opposite direction. Thinking fast, I jumped over to it and started going down another path with more crates along the way. As I broke them, a second rail appeared. I had to jump between the rails to make sure I wouldn't get hit.

"Oh, I get it..." I thought. "Don't miss a crate not just for the test's sake, but also for mine..."

"Eight, watch for moving Octowashers!" Marina exclaimed. "Be careful!"

"Moving Octowashers?" I thought. I realized it was those spinning things that the crates were on. As I approached some on a rail, I noticed lights on them were blinking, and they were moving in a back-and-forth pattern along the rail path. I had to break the crates and time my jumps over them. I got through it with no problems other than trying to keep my balance and keep from looking down at the pit.

I moved further along and got on a rail leading to crates stacked on top of an Octowasher. I took them out easily and hopped over the hazard.

"That's 15!" Pearl exclaimed. "Halfway home, Eight! You got this!"

"Please don't jinx it..." I wanted to say to her.

I hopped down to another rail and got startled when I saw a metal barrier in my path. I instinctively changed to my octopus form and slid right through it. As I continued breaking crates, dodging washers and barriers, and making sure I didn't fall, I saw that I was approaching the end of the area.

"Almost there!" Marina said.

I saw the last four crates ahead of me, but as I jumped to the rail leading to them, my foot hit the a moving washer knocking me off course. I ended up not jumping as far as I needed and missing the rail.

"AGENT 8!" everyone exclaimed in shock.

I quickly caught the rail with my hand and rode on it that way. It wasn't comfortable, but I didn't fall, and that was all that mattered. My hearts were racing at the scare, but they kept racing when I saw the crates coming up fast. Just as I approached the crates, I felt an adrenaline rush throughout my body. I swung myself up high in the air, and as I got to the crates, I realized I had swung myself above the whole stack of crates. I instinctively shot them from above and broke them all. I landed on the rail in my octopus form, changed back, and continued grinding on the rail.

I breathed heavily and was astonished at what I just did. Even if I could speak normally, that would've been a time where I would've been speechless.

"DID I REALLY JUST DO THAT?!" I screamed internally. "DID THAT _SERIOUSLY_ JUST HAPPEN?!"

"Whoa!" Marina exclaimed.

"THAT WAS SICK, EIGHT!" Pearl cheered.

"Well, sink me!" the captain said happily. "That was splendiferous!"

The rail I was on led directly back to the station. I hopped off and landed on the equipper. It scanned me, and I received another mem cake as my reward. This one looked like a little scroll. I made my way back onto the train, and it headed out again. As I did, the conductor congratulated me on passing the test.

"Job well-done," he said. "You're the first to pass this test. I'd say you earned that mem cake."

I smiled at his words.

The captain was still smiling happily as he saw me come in.

"Oho! Terrific work, Agent 8!" he said joyfully. "You really outdid yourself!"

"I'll say!" Marina said. "That was so cool!"

"She was all like WHOOSH, PEW-PEW-PEW, and then BAM!" Pearl shouted. "She has serious skills!"

As I took my seat on the train, I opened up the chat room to speak.

"Thank you, everyone," I typed. "But it wasn't that big of a deal..."

"Though it was impressive..." I thought. "Especially for a girl in high-heeled boots..."

"How did you learn how to do that?!" Pearl asked. "You HAVE to teach me those moves!"

"I wish I knew how I even did that..." I admitted. "I don't know how to describe it. It was like...instant reactions going off at that moment...but I don't know why I would be able to do that in the first place..."

"Strange..." Marina said. "Muscle memory, perhaps?"

"Maybe? But again, why would I or rather my body know to do something like that?"

"Not sure..." Pearl said. "That's really weird..."

"I'll say..." Marina said. "How are you feeling now, Agent 8?"

"Tired..."

"Oh...well, maybe you can rest up a little."

"Aye," the captain said. "You deserved it."

I went over to an empty seat and looked at the train lines. The big point on the map next to this station was now selectable, and naturally, I chose that as my next stop. After I did, my eyelids became so heavy that I couldn't keep them from closing. Soon, I lied down and was fast asleep.

And I fell asleep with a nice sense of pride while thinking of what I managed to do today...

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ **As Agent 8 approaches the first Thang, new challenges and new discoveries about herself and her situation are sure to come as well. What will the amnesiac octopus learn? Only time will tell...**

 **Until that time comes, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all next time!**


	6. The First Thang

_**AN:**_ **Aaaaand I'm back! I know it's been a while, and I apologize for keeping you all waiting. I haven't given up on this story; I've just been busy with other stuff that I couldn't make time for it. Anyway, I hope this makes up for the long wait. Here's the next chapter ready to go! Hope you like it!**

* * *

Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 6: The First Thang

After a very peaceful (and a little bumpy) nap, I woke up to find out that the captain was asleep himself. I could tell he was because his snoring was loud enough for me to hear him...from a completely separate train car.

"He must've gotten tired and moved to another car," I thought. "Actually, that makes me wonder...what time is it?"

The train had a clock that showed that the time just reached 12 o'clock. Whether that meant noon or midnight, I wasn't sure because I felt like I had slept for quite a while. I checked in the chatroom to see if Pearl or Marina were still active. Instead, I found the conversation that they had with the captain while I slept.

"I still can't believe Eight pulled off such a fresh move!" Pearl said.

"I know, right?!" Marina said. "It was so cool!"

"Aye, it was," the captain said. "But I can see the poor girl must be so tuckered out after all of this."

"Speaking of tired, I'm gonna hit the hay. Night, y'all!" Pearl said. Following her message was a notification saying she left the chatroom.

"Night!" Marina said.

"Pleasant dreams," the captain said. "Anyway, Miss Marina, pardon my rushing, but have you found out where we are exactly?"

"I've been using Agent 8's CQ-80 to gather data about your whereabouts. It's obvious that you guys are deep below the surface, but it's strangely being influenced by some kind of powerful magnetic energy. You can't find this much energy under normal circumstances. This amount might be enough to distort spacetime itself!"

"Spacetime?" I thought. "So distorting reality itself? This just brings up more questions...like 'how in the world did I actually understand what she was talking about?'"

"Captain, have you or Agent 8 been experiencing anything abnormal where you guys are?" she continued. The captain didn't answer immediately or at all afterwards. "Hello?"

"This must've been when he fell asleep," I mumbled. I decided to speak to her through the chat hoping she would be awake.

"Uh...Marina? Are you there?" I typed.

A few minutes passed until she responded.

"Oh, hi, Agent 8!" she said. "Have a good rest?"

"Yes. Thank you for asking."

"What's up?"

"I was going to answer your question. We haven't experienced anything weird specifically. Well, other than a few random floating objects here and there."

"Floating objects?"

"Just a lot of really big household objects floating in the air in some of these testing chambers. Above a really big dark pit of nothingness..."

"Whoa...that is odd..."

"And unsettling..."

"Oh, right. That pit must be scary to look at given your fear..."

"It is..."

"Well, stay strong, Agent 8! We're gonna be by you every step of the way. You can count on us."

"...Thank you."

"Wait a minute...something's going on..."

"What is it?"

"I picked up another signal from somewhere. Same frequency as your CQ-80."

"Maybe another person has one?"

"Maybe. It's probably just some interference or something. But I can fix that. Anyway, have you collected the first Thang?"

On cue, an announcement rang out throughout the train.

"Ladies and gentleman, we will be arriving at Grab and Go Station in ten minutes," the conductor said. I looked at my map to see where that was. It was the station that I had chosen, which meant that this was where I might find a Thang.

"I'm about to now," I told Marina. She didn't respond for a few more minutes.

"Great!" she said soon. "Sorry, I kinda dozed off...it's pretty late now..."

"You should go get some rest. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I don't want to let you face the unknown by yourself..."

"Yes. Besides, I'm awake and more alert. Although, I appreciate the concern."

"Well, okay...but please be careful."

"I will."

"OH WAIT! I just remembered! Pearl and I wanted to see what you and the captain looked like. At some point, do you think you could send us a picture of yourselves? I mean, if you're okay with it."

"Okay."

"Thanks. I'm heading to bed now. Night!"

"Have a nice rest."

After a little bit, the subway stopped at the station. I disembarked it and noticed that this place looked more like an actual station only without a turnstile. There was a pathway leading up to something in front of me, too.

I stepped on the equipper, and the only option was a normal Splattershot. I selected it and looked around for the conductor. Even he wasn't around.

"This is weird..." I muttered as I walked forward. I went up the ramp, and as I did, I could faintly see a light up ahead. On top of the ramp was a large glowing orb with...something floating inside of it. I wasn't sure what it was. It looked like some kind giant black box with lights, a dial on the center, and four buttons in a row below it.

"Is this one of the Thangs?" I said. I reached out to try to grab it, but the orb that it was floating in acted like an electric shield, and it shocked my hand.

"Ow..." I groaned as I rubbed my hand. "Okay, that won't work...what do I do?"

I looked around for something to get rid of the barrier, but nothing was around. I paused, looked at my Splattershot, and remembered how I completed the first test. I shot the barrier continuously, and it began gaining spots of pink ink. It grew and grew, and I could hear the barrier beginning to overload from being shot at. Eventually, the barrier burst making it shower ink for a short second and leaving a big puddle around it. All that remained was the Thang.

I'll be honest. I didn't expect getting the actual Thang to be this easy. If these are supposed to be hidden, what's the point of leaving them unguarded? I suppose I should be thankful that it was easy considering what I've been through just to get here.

"Now, what do I do with it?" I wondered aloud. I saw a cart nearby that looked like it could be useful in bring it back to the train. With a lot of effort, I pushed the Thang onto the cart and rolled it back to the equipper.

"Wait, I wonder if..." I thought. I looked at my CQ-80 and found a camera function on it. (Wow, this thing has everything.) I almost took a picture of the Thang to show everyone, but I remembered that Pearl and Marina wanted to see me. I stood in front of the Thang and aimed the camera at myself with it behind me. I gave a small smile as I took the picture. Then I took the Thang aboard the train.

With nothing else to do, I decided to sleep again until the others were awake.

* * *

Eventually, I woke up and went to see the captain. He was awake now, too.

"Ah, Agent 8," he greeted. "How are you doing? Good, I hope."

I gave him a thumbs up and nodded.

"Good, good. Now, did you find that Thang?"

I pulled in the Thang on the cart, and his eyes grew wide in surprise.

"That's a Thang?!" he said in surprise. "Well, sink me! It's humongous!"

I nodded in agreement.

"We can't just drag that thing everywhere, especially if this is how big the other ones are. Hmm...how about we take it to that telephone and leave it there?"

I took out my CQ-80 and set our destination to be the central station. Suddenly, another man came into the train car we were in holding a briefcase. He was a big bluish-gray isopod wearing a nice suit and a pair of sunglasses. He sat a short distance from us with his arms crossed, and he relaxed in his seat with a deep contented sigh.

"I wonder who this guy is..." I thought. He glanced over at me.

"Beg your pardon, ma'am," he said in a very respectful tone. "Might I ask you something?"

I was a little nervous about what he wanted to ask, but I nodded.

"Forgive me if I've caught you off-guard, but I've noticed that you have a couple of mem cakes on you. Mind if I took a look?"

I took them out, looked at the captain who came over to me, and showed the man. He looked at the cakes and hummed in interest.

"Very nice...very nice..." he repeated. "You must be doing very well on these tests."

I nodded.

"Pardon me, sir, but just who are you?" the captain asked.

"I go by 'Iso Padre.' Mind you, that isn't my name, but it's alll I can remember from being down here so long."

"So you've been here for a lot longer than us, I assume?"

"Ages. The tests here proved a bit too challenging for my skillset. But seeing how your young octopus companion here has mem cakes as well, it looks to me that you're taking said tests as well."

"This guys is perceptive..." I thought. "It's interesting, and a little unsettling..."

"But don't let me keep your attention," Iso Padre continued. "I'm sure you two have important matters to attend to. Thank you for allowing me to see these. But I do request something..."

I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"If you find any more, would you share them with me? They're my only link left..."

I wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that, but a part of me felt a bit sorry for him. We were in the same situation, but he probably gave up doing his tests at some point before me. Another part of me hoped that I wouldn't end up like him if I stayed here longer than I should've...

I nodded to show that I agreed to show him the mem cakes I manage to gather.

"Thank you. If you manage to find some, I'll be sure to reward you for your efforts. Perhaps you'll be able to cut through the gloom and light the way to my dreams. Regardless, safe travels, young squire."

I was a confused a lot more at that last statement, but I gave a slow nod again and went back with the captain to our seats. As I sat by him, he looked at the isopod man for a moment.

"That Iso Padre doesn't seem like such a bad chap..." he whispered to me. "But I wouldn't go as far as to say that he's playing with a full deck..."

"Can you people speak normally for once?" I thought. "I don't get these expressions, and they're starting to get on my nerves..."

* * *

Soon, we returned to the central station. We took the Thang off the train and went to the telephone. It somehow became active when we approached it.

"You are da bomb fo rizzle!" it said seemingly happily.

I rolled my eyes at the strange...I wanna call that a "compliment."

"You got the first Thang!" it continued. "Find three more and you will reach the promised land. You can leave the ones you find here. Keep on keeping on."

It then powered down. I rolled the big Thang behind the telephone and set it upright. The captain examined it more closely.

"I wonder if all the Thangs look like this," he wondered aloud. "I'll admit, it's as weird as this place, but if we gotta find them to get out of here, so be it."

I nodded in agreement.

"I'll head back on the train. Come on whenever you're ready."

He slowly made his way to the train while I looked at the Thang more closely myself. It was a machine of some kind, but looking at it fascinated me. I've been noticing that I liked looking at mechanical objects a lot. For some reason, they just interest me.

"I wonder if all the other Thangs will combine with this to make something for us to get to the promised land..." I thought. "Well, I hope at some point I'll get an answer or two about it."

I left the Thang and the phone and boarded the train again.

As we left, the captain began to ask me questions.

"I need to ask, Agent 8," he began. "How much of your memory has comeback so far?"

I moved my hands together to show him only little bits of it returned. It was like the pieces of the puzzle that I call my brain were all scattered and someone smudged the individual pieces so I couldn't see what the full picture is even if I got all the pieces together. At least, that's how I would describe it if I could say anything to him...

(Wait...did I just-? Oh, carp! Now, _I'm_ doing weird expressions!)

"I've been wondering...how come your memories are gone, but most of mine are still intact?"

I also did wonder why the captain seemed to remember most of what happened that led us down here. Plus, he was the one who woke me up, so it makes me wonder if I just hit my head or something made me lose my memories...but if that's true, how did he get down here so safely?

I then thought about something. I held up three fingers.

"Agent 3?" he guessed. "What about him?"

I gently knocked on my head.

"He isn't a dummy, if that's what you're asking."

I facepalmed and shook my head. I opened up Marina's chatroom.

"I was asking if you think Agent 3 lost his memories, too..." I typed.

"Oh!" he said in realization. "Well...let's hope not...I'm not sure if he's out there by himself or not, but I'm getting kinda worried for his safety..."

"You and me both..." I continued to type.

"He's been in a few scrapes before, so with his luck and skill, he oughta be fine."

"Maybe...still, I'm worried for him..."

"But why? You probably barely know him at all."

"I'm not so sure...it feels like I should know him..."

"Is it possible you two met before meeting on the mountain?"

"I don't know...but I still want to find him...I think he might help me with my memories...so long as he has his..."

"Maybe that Marina girl can help. She seems like a smart one."

"I wonder how smart, actually. That reminds me. Can we take a picture together? They wanted to see what we looked like."

"I don't see why not."

We took a quick picture together and uploaded it into the chatroom.

"That's a good-looking photo, Agent 8," the captain said.

"Thank you," I typed. "And for Marina and Pearl, here's our picture."

The captain looked at the picture then back at me. I could see a small smile on his face.

"You know something, Agent 8?" he said. "I don't think you caught my good side. Let's take it again."

"You look fine," I typed.

"Come on, just a little retake."

"Captain, you look fine. Although...I probably should move the camera a little closer."

"Plus, your arm is blocking most of the picture. Kids today and their 'shellfies'. Let me take it this time and show you how it's done."

"Be my guest. But first..."

I changed from the chatroom to the Deepsea Metro map. The captain and I noticed something odd about the train lines.

"Hey...some of these stations have been completed already," he said. "Did you do that?"

I shook my head. There were stations that were completed on the other side of the line where I took my first test. Then I had a thought.

"A-A-Agent...Th-Three...?" I forced myself to say verbally.

"You don't think it could be him, do you?!" the captain said in shock.

Something in my gut told me that it had to be him.

"Let's head that way," he continued. "Maybe we'll run into him or another one of those Thangs along the way."

I nodded in agreement and selected a destination called Maverick Station.

"These names..." I thought. "Yet another thing to add to the list of 'Weird Things I Just Don't Get But Wished I Did'..."

I closed the map and went back to the menu of the CQ-80.

"Now...about those pictures..." the captain said.

I smiled a little and set up the camera on the device. The two of us continued taking turns taking photos of each other and having a good time in each others' company.

"It's funny..." I thought. "I remembered when the captain originally viewed me as an enemy when I first woke up, but now, he's enjoying having me as pleasant company. Were we actually enemies before? Or did we just have some kind of bad first encounter?"

My mind shifted back to Agent 3. A faint memory of him became more clear. He was extending his hand out for me to grab with a non-threatening look. He didn't look willing to hurt me, but he still had a feeling around him of keeping his guard up while holding his hand out for me.

"I wonder if he was an enemy of mine, too...if he was, will he remember that? And if he does..."

I didn't want to think about that possibility. I just had to hope that we were on the same side now.

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ **So with the first Thang collected and secured, the escape to the promised land continues. Hope you all liked this chapter, and I'll see you all in the next one!**


	7. Closer Connections

_**AN:**_ **Here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it.**

* * *

Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 7: Closer Connections

At some point during the trip, Marina came back and began talking through the captain's radio.

"Morning, you guys," she said while yawning. "How's it going?"

"We're doing fine," the captain said. "Have a nice sleep?"

"Sorta. I've been-Oh! Is that a picture of you in the chatroom?"

"Oh, right, it is."

"And that's Agent 8! and she has...white-tipped hair?"

"From the looks of it, yes. Although it's mostly pink now, I saw it as fully white when I first saw her."

"Wait, is that true?" I thought as I looked at my hair. "Huh. I wonder when he noticed that..."

"Um...wow...that's interesting..." Her voice sounded uneasy. It almost felt like she wanted to comment more on that, but she refrained from doing so.

"Marina, is everything alright?" the captain asked.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about something. Also, I see Agent 8 got one of the Thangs. Great work!"

"Thanks," I typed in the chatroom. "We're heading toward another station with two things in mind: finding Agent 3 or at least finding another Thang."

"Sounds like you guys have a plan."

"Hey, guys!" Pearl shouted through the radio startling us. "What's going on?"

"Look in the chatroom."

"I already looked. I was like 'YOOOO! Is that Eight?! And the Cap?!' I almost lost it!"

"Yes, it's us," the captain said with a chuckle.

"Nice! Er, hey, Marina. How do I make the chat window full screen?"

"Press ALT-F4."

The chatroom showed a message that Pearl left the room.

"HEY!" Pearl shouted in annoyance through the radio. "NOT FUNNY!"

"I'm sorry, but it kinda is, honestly," Marina said while cracking up. "I can't believe it actually worked."

"Ugh...I'll get back on in bit after I eat and check up on some stuff. See ya."

"Alright. Later."

"Have you found anything else about our whereabouts, Marina?" the captain asked.

"Unfortunately, I didn't...I guess we're stuck in the mud for now..."

"Well, that's not good..."

"But don't worry, I'm still gonna do some work to try to learn more about where you guys are. But in the meantime, since you guys showed us your picture, I wanna return the favor. Here's my picture."

A picture appeared in the chatroom of an Inkling girl wearing pretty wild punk clothing, chains, a big crown, and some piercings while jumping into a crowd. She looked like she was singing her hearts out and enjoying every minute of it.

"Whoops!" Marina said sounding a bit startled. "Wrong picture! Give me a second..."

"Wow, you look different from what I expected, Marina," I typed.

"Uh, heh, that's not me, Agent 8. That's an old pic of Pearl."

"Oh, so that's what she looks like. In that case, that's a somewhat fitting look for her, I think."

"Yeah...by the way, don't tell her I said this, but despite her being a bit crazy, she's seriously the coolest person I know and an awesome partner."

"Aw...isn't that sweet?" the captain said. I nodded in agreement.

"Oh, I knew I shouldn't have said that...now I'm so embarrassed..."

An announcement came up in the train saying we were about to reach Maverick Station.

"Um, Marina?" the captain began.

"Don't worry," she said. "I heard it. We can save the picture sharing for later. Good luck, Agent 8. I'm gonna get to work finding out more info if I can."

"Thank you," I typed before closing out the CQ-80.

"What do you think this station is all about, Agent 8?" the captain asked.

I shrugged. So far, the only thing that these tests seem to have in common is the fact that there is always some goal that I need to reach while using my ink. I have no idea what to expect. I only hoped that I would be able to find another Thang's location or Agent 3.

* * *

When the train stop and I got off at the station, I saw the conductor standing where he usually was. I stepped on the equipper and didn't have any other choices except one called an Inkjet. It looked like some kind of jetpack with a cannon attached to it. I selected it and was given a cartridge with a picture of the weapon on it.

"Hello, again, ma'am," the conductor said as I stepped off the equipper. "Are you ready for this next test?"

I nodded, but I wondered where he went when I got the first Thang.

"For this test," he continued, "your goal is to get to the end of the area before time runs out using only your Inkjet. You only have one minute to begin with, but there will be checkpoints along the route to extend your time just a little."

"So that's why I only have this," I thought.

"To activate your weapon, insert the cartridge into the slot on your ink tank, and it will activate immediately once you go through the turnstile. Any questions?"

I pointed to the cartridge and shrugged.

"'What does the Inkjet do?' is what you're probably wondering, correct?" he guessed. I nodded. (Wow, he actually got that from a point and a shrug? That's impressive.) "Well, to put it simply, it is a jetpack of sorts that keeps you above the ground with high-pressured ink. There is a cannon mounted onto it that will allow you to fire large blasts of ink to attack enemies or activate switches. You can also press a button that will give the jets a little burst to 'jump' just a little for more accuracy. Use these functions to your advantage as you proceed. Good luck."

I inserted the cartridge into the tank, went to the turnstile, swiped my card, and got launched out into the area. As soon as I did, I felt the tank on my back move a bit, and I was launched up into the air. I grabbed onto two handles that appeared in front of me, and somehow, I managed to balance myself while hovering in the air.

"O-Okay...easy does it..." I stammered as I balanced myself. I grinned a little. "Hey, this is actually kinda fun."

"One minute remaining," a voice said.

"Wait, it's starting already?!" I thought. "I didn't even get enough time to think about this first!"

I leaned my weight forward slightly to move. As I moved, I saw small torpedoes with small angry faces on them (Don't ask...I don't get it either) fly past me. As I avoided more, I kept going on until I passed a checkpoint. The voice said I gained a few seconds to my time. Ahead of me we a couple more Octarians that began to attack me. I managed to slowly dodge each of their shots...which was easy to do since the shots they fired were just as slow.

"Alright, the conductor mentioned that I had a cannon," I thought. "How do I...?"

I pressed a button on the left handle, and the Inkjet hopped up a little.

"Okay, that's the 'jump' function...then this must be the cannon."

I pressed the button on the right handle and a large blast of ink pushed me backward a bit. It rocketed to the Octarians and splatted them instantly. As I regained my balance, I moved ahead.

"Okay, left button is 'jump'; right button is 'fire'...I can work with this..."

I then saw a big target, and I fired at it. This made a platform extend out so I could cross a gap and reach another platform. On top of the new platform was another checkpoint. More seconds were added to the timer. Ahead of me were giant balloon-like contraptions with tentacles on top of them...and these things also had mean faces on them. (I'll never understand this 'trend'...if you can call it that...and I've never felt so torn between calling it cute or menacing.)

"Oh, boy..." Marina said. "Octozeppelins! If you need to get rid of them, shoot the tentacles on top, Agent 8. They go down in one good blast."

"That seems like faulty design," I thought." But it helps."

These things didn't move too fast, and it seems they launched intermittently. The only problem was that they sprinkled the teal goo everywhere as they flew by. I didn't really want to attempt to shoot the weak spots at the risk of getting that stuff on me, so I decided instead to just maneuver around them all. The path that they were coming from required a bit more caution. One false move meant that I was in for a long fall...

The next spot I figured I needed to go to was above the launcher of those zeppelins. There were also a bunch of boxes on there.

"How do I get up there?" I thought.

"When in doubt, Eight," Pearl said, "Breaking a box or two usually helps."

"It's like she read my mind..."

I shot at the boxes, and they broke instantly. An floating orb with glowing yellow lights and a couple of hooks came into view.

"Let me guess..." I thought. I shot at the orb and found myself pulled to it. "And I was right...huh, ink really does have a lot of uses..."

"Good job, Agent 8," the captain said. "Seems to me you're a quick learner."

I continued over another gap and headed up a switch-activated elevator to another area with Octozeppelins and flying Octarians. I maneuvered my way through this gauntlet, activated switches that helped me progress, and reached the end where another one of those grappling orbs was. I steadied my aim before shooting at it, but somehow, I missed the shot.

"Eight! The switch!" Pearl said frantically. "Don't forget the switch!"

I looked down to see that the platform I was on was moving back into the wall. If I didn't hit the switch that brings it out, the platform will be gone, and I'll fall down into the pit below. I saw the darkness of the pit and nearly froze again as it seemed to grow bigger.

"NO!" I shouted at myself internally. "Keep it together! I'm so close to the end!"

I shook my head and regained my focus on the task at hand while not looking down. Needless to say, fear is a terribly strong force...and it was difficult to fight against it.

I hurriedly activated the switch again, and tried to hit the orb again. I missed a few more times. It was hard to focus on the shot because the zeppelins kept passing by, and I kept drifting to one side as I aimed.

"Alright, Eight, calm down and focus!" I thought as I hit the switch again.

I took a deep breath and carefully aimed. I finally hit it and got pulled up to the top of the platform it was hovering over. I could see the gadget that finishes the test and shot it. It came together, and I pressed it in as I fell on it in my octopus form.

"Test passed!" everyone said.

I almost started cheering myself before the Inkjet began overheating. A warning signal sounded and a second later, the Inkjet fell apart. I fell onto the ground hard.

"Ow..." I groaned. "What was that...?"

"Oh, apologies," the conductor said through the CQ-80. "I forgot to mention that the Inkjet is programmed to deactivate once the objective is complete."

"Oh, NOW you tell me!" I thought in annoyance. "Where was that bit of information a few minutes ago?"

I decided not to worry about that so much anymore because it was wasted energy. I launched myself back to the start of the test, and I claimed my mem cake. This one took me by surprise.

"Wait...this one looks just like...him..." I muttered.

I went back into the train and met with the captain again.

"Welcome back, Agent 8," he greeted cheerily. I sat silently next to him with the cake in my hand. "You seem a little down. What's the problem?"

I showed him the mem cake. It looked like an Inkling boy with light blue hair in a topknot, brown skin, and red eyes and glasses.

"Wait a minute...Agent 3?! Why is he one of these things?"

"What's happening?" Marina asked. "Did you find Agent 3 already?"

"Not quite...Agent 8, can you show a picture so they can see it?"

I took a picture of the mem cake and sent it into the chatroom.

"Aw, that's adorable," Marina said.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second!" Pearl exclaimed. "Marina, doesn't he look super familiar?"

"Yeah...I think we met someone that looks like this before..."

"What was his name again? Argh! It's on the tip of my tongue..."

"Fa...Fa...Fin...OH! Finley!"

"Yeah! That's it! He's the red-eyed guy that you bumped into before. But, cap, why'd you call him-...oh, cod...you mean he's actually...?"

"Agent 3?!"

"I was hoping to keep his identity a secret," the captain said. "But I can confirm that is his name."

"Wow..." the girls said in awe.

"And to think...I thought he was just some nerdy-looking guy..." Pearl commented. "Hey, he's like a real life superhero with a secret identity!"

"So if Finley is Agent 3..." Marina said slowly. "Then he's also the one who...oh, wow..."

"What is it, Marina?"

"Oh, it's...nothing important. I just feel like I'm learning some new stuff, too...and it kinda explains some stuff for me..."

I felt like she was still hiding information again, but I didn't want to seem nosy, so I decided not to pry at that. But I still wondered...what was she hiding? And what did she mean when she said it 'explains stuff'?"

And on a different and slightly more important note, why do I have a mem cake of him? Did I really know him before? If so, why didn't I recognize his name? If I didn't know his name but knew he was Agent 3 that might tell me that we were enemies...actually, strike that. He's an Inkling agent, and I'm an Octoling. If what the captain said was anything to go by, he and I were definitely on different sides...

Suddenly, my head started throbbing as a small rush of memories came back to me.

I could see a bunch of small, yellow fish in containers. Each one looked so scared and struggled to get free. I could feel my hearts tighten with sadness as I saw how frightened they looked. I wanted to reach out and release one nearby and comfort it before a hand swatted my arm away.

I jumped when I was hit, and the memory shifted to another scene of me standing with a few others. They were all Octolings like myself, but they all didn't look a sickly green and blue color like the ones I've been fighting. In fact, they looked normal and didn't move stiffly like the others at all.

"We've already lost several Zapfish," a young male voice said. "If we lose anymore, I won't be happy...and the boss won't be either! So when guarding these fish, guard them with your lives! We're too far in our plans to lose anymore energy! Gives those ridiculous agents no mercy! Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" everyone around me said with a salute.

"And that goes double for you, rookie! In fact, stay with me while we're out there. I don't need you stepping out of line again and trying something you'll regret."

"Wait, did he mean me...?" I thought.

Suddenly, I was engulfed in a light, and my memory changed to a scene of a battle ensuing with Agent 3 and another agent by him. The two fought off several of the other soldiers and splatted each of them. I felt a rough hand grab me by my shoulder.

I shrieked a little when I came back to reality and found the captain shaking me slightly.

"At ease, Agent 8!" he exclaimed. "It's only me."

I blinked a few times and shook my head.

"Are you alright?" he asked with concern. "You really spaced out there..."

I nodded.

"Well?" Pearl said over the radio.

"She's alright, girls," the captain said.

"Phew..." Marina sighed. "You had us worried for a bit, Eight."

"What happened?" Pearl asked.

"She might be recovering more of her memories, Pearl. Must've been a large chunk of them this time."

"She was out for a minute. But at least we managed to set the next destination for them."

"What?" I typed in the chatroom. "Where are we going now? And how did you select the destination?"

"Marina found out something interesting," the captain said.

"Yeah," she said. "Remember when I said that there was some other signal I was picking up? I think it's actually another CQ-80 that someone has, and I believe I've pinpointed that it's coming from one of the testing stations in the nearby area. With some of these stations open already and the signal going to and leaving each of those areas, I speculate that-"

"Finley...or Agent 3...or whatever we want to call him is nearby, and you guys are headed to where he's going next!" Pearl finished quickly.

Y-Yeah! Exactly!"

"Really?!" I typed. "Wait...what's the station we're going to?"

"Um...I don't have a name yet, but it looks like he's heading there as we speak. If my calculations are correct, he should be there by the time you reach the station."

"Splendid!" the captain said. "Hopefully, the boy won't be in any trouble when we get there."

"I hope he won't be..." I thought.

I'll admit this...I had hoped to meet Agent 3 at some point, but with some of these memories coming back, I don't know whether to be scared or excited anymore...

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ **And once again, we're at the end of the chapter. What will Agent 8 find at this new station? Will it be Agent 3? Only time will tell.**

 **Speaking of which, let's see what Fin has been doing during all of this...in the next chapter!**

 **It should be up soon. Until that's ready, I hope you all liked this one, and I'll see you then!**


	8. Doubts and Danger

_**AN:**_ **And now to see what Fin is doing. Hope you all enjoy this one.**

* * *

Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 8: Doubts and Danger

Hi, Fin here again, and I'm currently slowly losing my mind the longer I'm down here!

Okay, sorry, I'm overexaggerating...but it's necessary to do that if it means understanding how I'm feeling right now.

I'm stuck in an underground area alone with the thoughts of never going home swarming around in my head. So if people found themselves in my position, they'd be freaking out a bit, too. Or at least, I would think they would unless they have nerves of steel...which I sadly don't.

But at this point, I'm rambling to keep myself focused on something that isn't that, so I should probably tell you what happened to me after going through that tunnel...and wandering around for about 2 hours...

It's hard to believe, but I think I found my way to another station. How far I went, I don't know, but at least this one seemed really simple. And by "simple," I mean "empty." The only thing that was there was a big ramp leading up somewhere. I went up it, and I found myself looking at a large...thing with several sharp points floating in a big ball of energy.

"I wonder what this is..." I mumbled. I reached out to touch the barrier, but I stopped at the last second. "Maybe I shouldn't...it looks a little dangerous."

Out of curiosity, I took out my Hero Shot and shot at the barrier. As I suspected, it would break if I shot at it enough, but I decided not to try to open it. Instead, I looked passed it and saw several other tunnels with trains sitting idly in a couple of them. I sat down and began to reflect on my situation.

"Alright, let's review..." I thought. "I'm in what appears to be some kind of testing facility deep underground. And while I'm down here, my mentor and an Octoling are somewhere out there probably looking for me while I'm looking for them. And as of now, I'm lost, alone, and have no idea what I'm gonna do next..."

I sighed and lied on my back with my arms behind my head. Above me was nothing but a foggy, greenish sky...or to be accurate, ceiling. I began thinking of my friends.

"I wonder what everyone else is up to," I thought. "I hope Callie isn't worried about me too badly now...she really didn't seem that keen on me going on this trip with the cap'n in the first place. Granted, she was a little startled by Marie's story about that 'ghost' that screams up on the mountain sometimes. That's not even scary in comparison to what I'm dealing with now."

I then thought of the other agents.

"Heh, I wonder how the rest of the gang is holding up. Hopefully, everyone's getting along well enough. I'll have to see for myself if I get back."

I then got the worst chill throughout my body that I've ever felt in my life. "If I get back..."

"What if I don't make it out of here?" I thought. "What if I'm stuck here forever? What'll happen then? I just keep doing these weird tests forever? Or do I just keep going until...I just can't anymore...?"

Thoughts like these filled my head more and more, and I felt the fears tense me up. I shook my head and stood up.

"Alright, that's enough!" I said with determination. "What would the others say if they saw me just give up like that? I've been through more than enough crazy situations in my life that I can find a way to survive and escape this place. I just gotta stop thinking so negatively. Sure, things look bleak now, but maybe it's temporary. I can get through this. I know I can!"

I then had an idea. I pulled out my CQ-80 and looked through it to find out where I was. On the screen, it said I was at a place called "Smash And Dash Station."

"Okay," I said. "I'm here...and there seems to be another one of these things up there...wait, what's that...?"

I noticed another dot on a different train line. It was on another big circle on the line, and it wasn't pulsating anymore.

"That might be them..." I said. "If I'm quick enough, I could find a way to reach them. I just need to find a quick and open route..."

I examined the map and selected a station located at a crossroad. It was going back toward the other dot, but I couldn't advance passed it.

"Now, all I have to do is wait for the-"

The train arrived once again, and I heard it screech to a halt.

"Train," I finished. I ran to it and hopped aboard. "Okay, if I select the station, the train arrives...I really should've learned that earlier."

The train started moving, and I rested for a little while it moved. This time, the car I was in was completely empty.

"Huh...what was the name of this station again?" I thought. I opened the map and noticed the name: Girl Power Station. "What kinda of name is that...? Oh, whatever. Just pass this and get moving to meet up with that other signal. Besides, what's the worst that can happen at a station with this name?"

(It's time's like this where I really want to splat myself for saying stuff like that because each and every time I do that, it always makes a situation worse...)

* * *

Eventually, the train stopped at the station and I got off of it. It rushed off again once I did.

I looked ahead and saw a few objects beyond the gate.

"I wonder what I need to do here..." I thought aloud. My question was answered by a sign on the wall.

"To pass this test, you must defend the orb from the oncoming onslaught of attacks until the timer runs out. Choose one of the main weapons ahead that may help you the best. If the orb takes too much damage, the test is failed."

"I just have to defend an orb?" I thought. "That doesn't sound so bad...I've played defensively in Ranked battles before, so it should be fine."

The equipper tube gave me a choice of Burst, Splat, or Curling Bombs. I selected Splat Bombs since they were the ones I used most frequently.

I went past the turnstile and saw the objects clearly. They were each type of main weapon, but they were the most standard versions of them all. I figured my Hero Shot had a bit more strength than a standard Splattershot, so I decided to go with just that.

I stepped over to a pink launchpad. I changed my ink color to match it and almost went into it. Before I did, I looked out to the arena ahead. It had a ton of boxes and surrounding a big pink ball which I assumed was the orb I needed to defend. While that was nice to see, what wasn't nice was seeing the large amount of that teal ink on the ground at the outer perimeter of the arena.

"Okay, there's gotta be enemies hiding in that..." I muttered. "At least I know what to expect..."

Once I readied myself for a battle, I launched over to the arena, and the voice on my device announced that the time had begun counting down as soon as I landed on a bridge. I jumped down and went to the orb. It looked a little smaller up close than I thought. I tried to look around for enemies, but the boxes were in my way.

I climbed onto a few and saw a figure breaking a box. It was an Octoling, but she looked as strangely-colored as the Octarians I saw before. And she was heading straight towards the orb.

"Oh, no, you don't!" I said as I intercepted her. I splatted her, and the orb sustained no damage. "Okay, one down..."

I looked up to see more Octolings super-jumping.

"Many more to guard against..." I finished. "Okay, well, at least for about sixty more seconds..."

Some other Octolings managed to break through some boxes beside me and began shooting the orb. Slightly panicking, I hurried and splatted them, but I wasn't careful and got splatted by one that managed to ambush me.

I respawned at the checkpoint back at the weapon. Before I went on, my CQ-80 made a beeping noise. I checked it and saw that I apparently had a certain number of chances to be able to succeed at this. I was now down to four.

"I really don't wanna know what happens if all five are gone..." I thought as I went to the launchpad. Before I did, I glanced at a pair of Splat Dualies. I looked at my Hero Shot and back at the weapons. "Maybe I should change things up..."

I took the dualies and hooked them up to my ink tank. I launched into the arena again and the 90 second timer started once again.

"Okay, so if I get splatted, I restart the whole test again," I said. "Makes sense, but it's probably gonna get frustrating if it keeps going like this..."

Once again, the Octolings began charging for the orb, and I tried defending it as best as I could. This was way harder than I thought it would be. It's like trying to fight multiple Vias at once. Well...they _are_ Octolings, so in some way, it does makes sense, I guess. However, they all seem a bit stronger somehow and a little smarter. While that wasn't too bad, the eerily quiet way they battle unnerved me. Just what happened to them? And if this is something that can happen to someone while they're down here, will I be next?

Suddenly, the announcer voice spoke up pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Warning," it said. "Orb taking critical damage."

"Hold on, what?!" I said as I turned to it. I saw that the orb was beginning to turn teal and seemed to be making sparks. I hurried over to see that a couple of Octolings were attacking the orb. I splatted them, but I was too late. The orb broke, and the next thing I knew, another Octoling managed to splat me again just as it did.

I respawned once again.

"Alright, let's try this again..." I said while starting to lose my energy. I chose the dualies again hoping that a second gun in hand might help out should I be surrounded.

This thought process was put to the test a few seconds after I launched over to the orb. Before I got there, I saw that the Octolings were stationed at the edge of the arena. I decided to attempt a preemptive attack to surprise them before they could react. The first Octoling launched up, and once she landed, I splatted her. I rushed to where her squad was standing, but once I started shooting at them, the rest of them came down and started attacking me at once. Needless to say, I didn't see that coming, and with at least four of them going after me at once, I naturally got splatted...

I didn't understand what I was doing wrong, and saying I was getting frustrated would be a big understatement. I ended up charging back into the test with no plan, and what do you know, I got splatted yet again! (But surprisingly, I think I lasted the longest on this go...I don't get how, but I did...)

Once I respawned, I had lost so much energy that I could barely walk. I changed to my squid for to slide over to the launchpad, but I barely moved.

"I gotta stop..." I panted in exhaustion. "I gotta stop...or take a breather for at least a minute or two..."

I mustered my strength to move and ended up resting on the wall next to the turnstile. I breathed hard, and my hearts were pounding against my chest. My whole body ached from all of the strenuous work I had to do. Soon, I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.

I had one last attempt. I was outnumbered. And I had no plan to succeed at this test.

At this point, I'm hoping for some kind of good luck to help me out of this...or a even miracle...

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ **Looks like Fin's in a pinch. Will he make it out alive? We'll have to wait and see.**

 **Until then, I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see you guys next time!**


	9. A Happy Reunion

_**AN:**_ **And now, back to Agent 8 and the crew. Hope you enjoy this one!**

* * *

Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 9: A Happy Reunion

Agent 8 here. The captain and I are about to reach the station now, and my anxiety about meeting Agent 3 is reaching a new level. I think the captain can tell.

"Agent 8, you're shaking like a leaf," he said. "Is everything alright?"

I nodded, but apparently my facial expression when trying to seem calm didn't make him believe me.

"Now, I understand that Agent 3 might be a little intimidating especially when considering that he's been battling you and your species for so long. But I'm sure he won't bite."

I relaxed slightly, but my fears were still present. That may have been reassuring, but I still feel as though it's my fault we're all down here. I know it's not exactly true, but I still can't help but feel a little guilty about it. It was still a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and if I hadn't been at the wrong place, I probably would be here by myself, and no one else would have to share my problems...

Then again...I never would've met the captain, Pearl, or Marina...and who knows if I could've gotten anywhere without their help. I haven't gotten any ill intentions from the captain or those two during this whole ordeal, so maybe I just got lucky that they were so willing to help.

"Hey, guys, you there?" Marina said through the radio.

"We hear you loud and clear, Marina," the captain answered.

"Okay, so good news and bad news...I'll do the bad news to get it out of the way. And right off the bat, I wanna apologize because my timing was off for your rendezvous with Agent 3. Seems that he's already at the station."

"Wha?! Already? We'll have to hurry or he might start moving again."

"That's actually part of the good news...well, sorta. My readings indicate he's still at the station, but he's not moving. I'm thinking he's taking the test there, but he's probably having a tough time. Maybe Agent 8 could help him out once you guys get there."

"She'll get right on it as soon as we get there. Right, Agent 8?"

I raised an eyebrow but still nodded. (I wanted to know what'll happen if he just assumes I'll agree to do whatever he expects me to do, but I decide to not do it. I would test that, but I figured now wasn't the time or place for that kind of pettiness...well, not yet anyway...)

"Great!" Pearl said. "Now, the other good news. Apparently, Agent 3 has been to another Thang. He can probably lead you to it."

"That's convenient," the captain said happily. "Maybe he's seen the fourth one, too."

"Either way, we might be one step closer to getting you guys out!"

I smiled a little at hearing that. Although, I did have a thought. Exactly what was at this station that was difficult even for Agent 3?

I'll find out soon enough...

* * *

Finally, after what felt like an extremely long time, we finally reached the station.

"Okay," Marina started. "So this place is called 'Girl Power Station'...why it's called that, your guess is as good as mine. But Agent 3 is right here, so I hope you're ready!"

"He might appreciate some help on this one," Pearl added.

I headed out of the train and saw the conductor again. Before speaking to him, I went into the equipper. The only choices were bombs, and I chose the Curling Bombs. Something in my gut told me they would be the best choice.

"Ah, hello again," the conductor said as I approached him. "This test is currently in progress, so you may have to wait for a while until it is completed."

"Wait, only one person can do a test?" I thought. "That...actually makes sense...it's probably to keep from cheating..."

With no other options, I decided to wait until Agent 3 was done. I walked to the turnstile and peered over it to see what was ahead. I could see strange floating cans, but all was quiet. That didn't make sense to me. If he was here, I probably would've heard weapon fire by now. I waited for a sound for a about five minutes before Pearl spoke up.

"Ugh..." she groaned in annoyance. "What's taking him so long?! How hard is this dumb test?! And why is it so quiet?"

"Hold on, Pearl..." Marina said. "I think you're onto something..."

"I am? I-I mean, yeah, I am!"

(Nice recovery, Pearl...)

"Something is definitely wrong here..." Marina continued. "Agent 3 should definitely be here..."

"You sure you got that locater working right?" Pearl asked.

"Of course! I'm...99% sure I got out all the bugs."

"99? Where's the other 1%?"

"It's rare that anything is ever 100%, Pearl. There's always that small possibility that something's not right."

"Why do I feel like you made that up...?"

"I didn't!"

"Okay, okay, sorry for doubting you. Anyway, Eight. Sneak in and see what's up. Maybe he's in trouble."

" _Before_ trespassing..." Marina said with a small pause. "You could try using your card to see what'll happen."

"Hey, what's with the look?! It's not trespassing if the place isn't totally blocked off."

I tried swiping my card, but a buzzing sound came on when I tried. I figured that meant I couldn't get in. But I noticed the flaw in the design of the turnstile that slightly made me agree with Pearl...I could easily climb over it and get into the test if I wanted to. I figured the conductor would have a problem with it, so if I needed to get in, he needed to not see me climb over. I then got an idea.

Opening the chatroom, I gave my idea to everyone.

"What if the captain can distract the conductor for long enough so I can climb over?" I typed.

"Agent 8, that's a sneaky idea," the captain typed. "But it's not half bad."

"Yeah, that's pretty clever," Pearl added.

"Well, I suppose we don't have any other choice..." Marina said. "Go for it, captain."

The captain poked his head out of the train.

"Uh, excuse me, conductor," he said. "I seem to have misplaced some belongings of mine. Could you help me find them please? I'd really appreciate it."

"Oh, no," the conductor said. "I'd be happy to help you, sir."

The conductor inched away towards the train, and as he did, I shifted towards the turnstile slowly. Right as he was out of sight, I quickly got up over the gate, and I flipped myself to the other side. I landed hard on my rear which hurt for a minute after I stood up, but at least I was over it.

"Nice work, Eight!" Pearl said. "Now, where's Agent 3?"

I looked around, but I couldn't find him anywhere. I looked ahead and could see a few more objects in the distance. I walked ahead to see another larger arena below, but that goo was surrounding the outer area.

"Why do I have a bad feeling all of a sudden...?" Marina said anxiously.

"Why do I feel the same...?" I thought. I looked down at my feet and noticed more pink ink covering the ground around a launchpad. That indicated to me that someone else was here. And I couldn't explain why, but it felt like something was watching me. Or rather someone...

"EIGHT! BEHIND YOU!" Pearl shouted.

Just as I turned around, I could see someone shooting yellow-green ink at me with a strange looking shooter. He had on a strange blue and black suit and had covering of some kind wrapped around his face and head leaving only his eyes clear. I managed to dodge out of the way, but I ran into one of the weapon canisters. Inside of it was a weapon that looked like an umbrella. (And, no, I'm not making that up. It legitimately just looked like an umbrella...)

The figure kept shooting, but I scrambled to use my new weapon. I accidentally pressed a button that caused it to open up. It acted as a shield. I then found a trigger on the handle which I pulled. A blast of ink came out of the other end of the weapon, but he dodged out of the way. We battled for a few bit before I started feeling odd...

It's hard to explain. It was like I was getting more and more furious at how I couldn't land a hit on this person. As I did, I found myself boiling with anger and frustration as I started getting hit by his ink. As I fell backward both from the shots and tripping over some ink I got stuck in, I looked at the figure staring at me. He turned his back to me. Then...something just...snapped in me. I tensed up and began breathing heavily and growling.

"Uh, E-Eight...?" Marina asked nervously. "Everything okay...?"

I let out a loud yell of fury, charged at the figure at full speed, and tackled him to the ground. We tumbled over one another, and somehow I ended up in my octopus form on top of the launchpad. I launched over to the arena with him in tow, and we crashed to the ground. He took off running, and a timer started on my CQ-80. I ignored it because the only target on my mind was getting away. I hurriedly got up and chased after him.

During the chase, I was shooting at him and throwing Curling Bombs in his direction to try to catch up. As he eluded me, I was getting more and more reckless and wild with my attacks. Suddenly, some of those odd-colored Octolings started appearing in my path. With several angry shouts, I splatted them quickly and kept after my target.

"Oh, dear..." the captain said worriedly. "Such fierce attacks..."

More were coming around and kept getting in my way. I don't know what kind of reasoning I had when I made this decision, but instead of shooting them, I decided to swing my umbrella at them like a type of club knocking them back and shooting them as they stumble. I think I even tackled one and splatted her point blank while she was below me.

"G-Geez, Eight, chill out a bit..." Pearl said uneasily. "They're enemies, but you're-"

"SHUT IT!" I shouted aloud.

"W-Whoa..." Marina said fearfully. "She spoke again...b-but that's a bit extreme..."

"Agent 8, calm down!" the captain said sternly. "You're not thinking in the right mind."

I ignored him and kept viciously splatting the Octolings to get to him. He was getting further ahead. Don't ask me what I was thinking or even saying at this time because even I didn't know what came over me. The only thing I was focusing on was that person I was after, and I apparently decided that nothing was gonna stop me from getting to him. I don't even know why I was so focused on catching him. My judgement was clouded, and all I could think to do was attack him.

For maybe a good minute or so, I kept chasing him around, and he was splatting the Octolings that got in his way as well. Suddenly, he stopped when an alarm rang out throughout the area, and announced that the test was over. I was running full tilt at this point and intending to hit him with my already battered weapon. He turned and jumped in surprise as soon as I got within ten feet of him. He shot in my path, and I tripped on his ink. I flew forward and slammed into him. We toppled over, and I fell on top of him. I was still seething so I pinned him down on his back. He struggled to get free, but I kept him down pretty well.

"Finally, I got you!" I said through my teeth. I was breathing hard with both tiredness and rage. "Now...WHO ARE YOU?!"

"I should be asking you the same thing!" he retorted as he kept struggling.

He looked at me for a second and froze. He gasped and stared at me.

"Wait..." he said softly. "It can't be..."

He shook his head which removed his facial covering, and I gasped when I saw his face clearly. There, right underneath me, was the boy from my dreams...Agent 3.

"Y-YOU?!" we said in unison. I got off of him, and we both stood up with a bit of space between us. We came closer to see each other more clearly.

"I don't believe it..." he said. He pulled out a pair of round glasses and put them on. He blinked, and his eyes grew wide as he saw me. Mine probably did the same, and I found myself utterly shocked and once again speechless.

"You're that Octoling from earlier..." he said. "R-Right...?"

I stared at him silently. He gained a puzzled expression on his face.

"Uh...h-hello? Can you understand me?"

I couldn't believe he was right in front of me. I felt tears form in my eyes and roll down my face. He looked at me with concern and came closer.

"What's the matter...?" he asked gently. "You're not hurt, are you? I didn't mean to-OH!"

That's what he managed to get out before I quickly hugged him tightly.

"You're okay!" I sobbed quietly. "You're really okay..."

I didn't stop to acknowledge the fact that I had spoken again without any kind of struggle. I would've been proud to have done that, but I didn't care at the moment. I was just happy to see Agent 3 again and know he was safe and sound...despite the fact I just tried to hurt him...

I felt him slowly return the hug.

"Guess someone was really worried about me..." he said, but for some reason, his voice started getting higher. "Uh...c-could you let go please...?"

I really didn't want to, but I respected his wishes. When we pulled apart, his hair tentacles were becoming a dull orange color, and his face was becoming reddish. I don't know why he did that...

"So...ahem...you ended up down here, too?" he said. I nodded in response. "Well, at least you're a familiar face..."

"She's not the only one, bucko!" the captain said through my CQ-80.

"Cap'n?!" he said in surprise. "Is that you?"

"The one and only. It's good to hear your voice!"

"Good to hear yours, too. Are you alright?"

"I'm just fine. No need to worry. In fact, we should be the ones asking you."

"I'm fine...for the most part...just a little frazzled at what just happened..."

"That's actually the most aggressive Agent 8 has gotten since we've been down here."

"Agent 8?" He looks up at me. "So that's your name?"

I nodded uneasily.

"Well, not quite, bucko. You see, the poor octo girl has amnesia. She can't remember anything before we all got down here. Not even her own name. So as a placeholder, we call her 'Agent 8.'"

"Oh...well, it's fitting for an Octoling, I suppose."

"But if you want to shorten it, just call her Eight," Pearl said.

"Wait...is that Pearl...?"

"Yo, Fin! What's up?"

"Glad to hear you're okay!" Marina added.

"Marina?" he said. "Oh, no, don't tell me you guys are down here, too!"

"No, no, we're on the surface. We've been helping the captain and Agent 8 track you down, and we're trying to find a way to get all of you out of that place."

"You guys have been looking for me this whole time?" he asked. "Funny enough, I was doing the same. I've been-"

He paused for a second as if he just had a realization.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up a second!" he said. "Pearl, did you just call me Fin?"

"Well, it's your name, right?" she responded.

"Yeah, but...uh..."

"Don't worry, Fin," the captain said. "They know you and Agent 3 are one and the same."

"Sorry if you wanted it to remain secret..." Marina said. "But as soon as we caught word that Agent 3 had red eyes, we kinda pieced it together. We can keep calling you Three if you like."

"Oh," he said. "Well, you don't have to since you know my name. But how'd you catch word of that? Did you tell them, cap'n?"

"Not me personally," the captain explained. "But a little trinket that Agent 8 got resembled you."

"Trinket?"

I pulled out the mem cake that looked like him. He looked at it with interest.

"Huh...cool, but a little strange. Wait a minute! I got one of those from another test!"

To my surprise, he pulled out another one that looked like an Inkling girl.

"Wait a sec!" Pearl exclaimed. "You've been doing tests hoping to find the cap and Eight, right?"

"Yeah...have you guys been doing that, too?"

I nodded.

"We've been finding out more and more about this place," Marina said. "We need to find some Thangs and a way to the surface is gonna open."

"Don't you mean 'things'?" he asked.

"Nope," everyone said in unison.

"Now, let's get you guys out of there," the captain said.

"Sounds good to me," Fin said. "This test was ridiculous."

"What were you supposed to do in it anyway?" the captain asked.

"I was supposed to protect some kind of orb in the center of an arena nearby. There were these weird-looking Octolings that kept attacking me in large numbers. I've been here for a while and was about to leave before Agent 8 showed up."

"Which leads me to another thing I wanted to ask," Pearl said. "Why the halibut would you attack her?"

"My reflexes kicked in when I saw another Octoling. I assumed she was another hostile one, but obviously, I was wrong." He looked down shamefully. "And...I'm really sorry about that, too, Eight..."

I looked at him. I forgave him, of course, but I felt like I had to apologize for my outburst of anger and attacking him. I wasn't sure if I could speak to him either, but I took a deep breath and decided to try again. However, as I was trying to say it, I suddenly got extremely lightheaded.

"I...I'm sorry, too..." I managed to say weakly before falling backward.

"Whoa!" he shouted before I felt him catch me. "Eight?"

I had no idea I had overworked myself that badly, but the last thing I saw before losing consciousness entirely was his face.

"Yeah..." I thought for a second. "He's who I remember..."

Finally, I was out...

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ **And that's how our protagonists met...again. Secrets might be revealed to Eight, and memories might return, but that's for the next chapter.**

 **Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this one, and I'll see you guys next time!**


	10. Something Worth Remembering

_**AN:**_ **Hey, look! I'm alive! (...for this one chapter anyway. And after some minor technical issues.)**

 **In all honesty, I began to feel very slightly demotivated to continue this, but I figured finishing it out would be great to do because I did have fun writing my stories. Plus, I have more of my own ideas to share for the future, but they're only gonna happen if I finish this one first. I won't rush this, but I do want to finish this soon and finish it well.**

 **But I've rambled enough. Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

* * *

Splatoon 2 Untold: Mystery of Agent 8

Chapter 10: Something Worth Remembering

After blacking out for probably the hundredth time in the last...I'll assume 24 hours, I awakened back on the moving train.

"Agent 8?!" the captain said worriedly. "Speak to me, Agent 8!"

I gave him a mildly annoyed look, and he calmed down.

"Oh, heh, right...my mistake..." he chuckled nervously with a sigh of relief. "You had us scared for a second when you passed out. Can you stand up?"

I slowly moved and placed my feet on the ground. I stood up just fine and walked around a bit, but my head was throbbing in pain. I sat down again.

"You sure you're feeling better after that last test?" the captain asked. "You really went all out in that one."

"I'll say..." Agent 3 added. I found him looking at the magazine I was reading earlier on a nearby seat. His slicked-back tentacles were now light blue. He seemed like he had just gotten up as well. He came over and sat next to me...but with a small amount of space between us.

I pointed to him and gave a thumbs up.

"I'm fine...if that's what you're asking," he responded with a small smile. "But forgive me for keeping my space. I don't want to set you off by accident."

I looked at him quizzically before remembering what happened during that last test. I looked down shamefully. I really had no idea what came over me back there, but I didn't like it. I could see everything that happened, but I couldn't stop myself from attacking him. I heard my friends begging me to stop, but nothing worked. The thought of it happening again made me scared. The captain rested a calming hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, Agent 8," he said reassuringly. "I know you probably weren't in the right mind. We don't fault you for that."

"Not at all," Agent 3 said. "I know you probably didn't mean it. You don't seem like the kind of person to attack like that. At least, from what I could tell from the first time we met."

I smiled just a little at their words. I then focused on the agent's last words: "the first time we met." That meant I was right, and we have met before.

"W-What...h-happened...then...?" I said slowly. I was surprised at how much easier it was for me to speak this time.

"You don't remember?" he said. I shook my head. "It wasn't too long ago. I met you in one of the Octarian bases. Your, uh, 'commander' ordered you to keep a baby Zapfish away from me. I caught up to you, but I didn't hurt you. I could tell from the way you behaved that you really weren't up for a battle."

The memory of that day came back to me so quickly that it somehow managed to give me a chill throughout my body.

"And..." I began. "You...t-told me...to leave..."

"Yeah, yeah, that's it," he continued.

"You spared me...and let me go...but we met again afterward..."

"This time outside of Octo Canyon. We ended up encountering each other again on Mt. Nantai. The cap'n wanted me to catch you, but while we went after you, we all wound up falling through some hole up on the mountain and...well, here we are."

"Three, you kept your memories..." the captain said in astonishment. "If you fell down here, too, and didn't lose them, then how come Agent 8 and I both did?"

"Not sure. This is just one mystery after another..."

"Yo, guys!" Pearl said through the captain's radio.

"Hey, Pearl. What's new?"

"Nothing yet. I did get some good sleep, though, so I'm ready to help out again."

"Excellent!" the captain said happily.

"Where's Marina?" Agent 3 asked.

"Still knocked out. She was worn out after that last test."

"How? She's not here doing the physical work."

"But she is working her tentacles off trying to find a way out for you guys. And find you more of those Thangs."

"Good point. We just need to find two more, right?"

"That's what I heard. So it won't be long now."

I raised an eyebrow and hummed curiously.

"Not...three...?" I said quietly.

"Hold up! Is that Eight?!" Pearl said in surprise.

"Yeah, she's awake," Agent 3 said. "She's a little dazed, but she's fine otherwise."

"Phew, that's a relief...Marina's gonna be happy to hear that."

"I'll answer your question, Agent 8. While you were out, we found another one of those big Thangs, and we're on our way to the central station to leave it with the other one you found earlier. We just need two more at this rate before we can go home. It's sitting in the back of this train car."

I looked around him to see a huge circular object propped up on the back seat. I don't know how I missed it, but something told me that it was a Thang.

"But now I got a question," Pearl continued. "Why is my picture in the chatroom?!"

"What?" Agent 3 asked.

I pulled out my CQ-80 and pulled up the chatroom. I scrolled up to Pearl's rock concert picture.

"Whoa..." Agent 3 said in surprise. "Pearl, you were in a rock band? I never knew that."

"Yeah! I was in one back when my music career was getting off the ground. This was a little while before I met Marina."

"When did you two meet?"

"Hmm...about two years ago, I think. Oh, hey, I got a pic of her back then. Let me get it."

"Two years ago...? Er, go ahead."

With a loudly shouted "BOOM," Pearl put up a picture of another Octoling. She had darker skin than me, short dark-colored hair that with teal highlights, a pair of metallic goggles on her head, metallic armor on her torso, black shorts, and black boots. She smiled at the camera while kneeling down by a fuzzy-looking creature nibbling a small fishbone.

"This is a pic I took back in the day. I think this was the day we first met," Pearl continued. "Oh, wait, and I gotta share this one...hang on, I gotta find it."

As she did, the captain and Agent 3 looked at the current picture a little uneasily then at each other.

"She's...also an Octoling..." the captain said slowly.

"Yeah..." Agent 3 said just as slowly. "And judging from the uniform, she apparently worked for...you know who..."

"This was unexpected..."

"You're telling me...but I have more info on that to tell you about later. But let's talk about that in private..."

"You're right, and believe me, we will talk about it considering the fact that they know who you were before they found out you were an agent, bucko."

Agent 3 looked a little embarrassed. I was still a bit confused about what they meant, but before I could interject, Pearl put a picture of Marina up in the chatroom. She was apparently just getting up from sleeping and looked like she was struggling to open her eyes. She was also drooling a little on the pink squid-shaped toy or pillow she was resting on. Her funny look got me to start laughing. The others looked at it and began to join in.

"Well, that's a less-than-flattering picture!" Agent 3 commented.

"Hahaha! I know!" Pearl said. "I took it one day when Marina was working on one of our songs. I couldn't get rid of it. It was too funny!"

"What was too funny?" Marina's voice came from the radio.

"Uh, nothing!" Pearl said quickly. "Just talking with the agents and cap. Heh heh..."

"Oh, they're up?"

"Hello, Marina," the captain said while still calming himself. "Have a good sleep?"

This got me and Agent 3 snickering a little.

"Yeah...and I'm ready to get back to work."

"Great to hear," Agent 3 said while trying to keep it together.

"Okay, I give up. What's so funny?!"

"Look in the-"

"No no no no, don't tell her!" Pearl said frantically. "I gotta get rid of it."

"What did you do?" Marina asked.

"Hee hee...chatroom," I said quietly.

The chatroom showed Marina getting into it. She let out a shout of horror.

"How did-?! Wha-?! Where did you-?!" she began in confusion. She got silent for a second before shouting, "PEARL!"

"And that's my cue to bail!" Pearl said frantically. "I got...stuff to take care of. See you guys later! Bye!"

"Pearl, wait! Ugh...I'm SO getting her back for that..."

"Heh, lighten up, Marina. It's a cute picture," Agent 3 said.

"It's still embarrassing, though..."

"Looks like you spend a lot of time on your songs."

"I have to. No offense to her, but Pearl's voice is pretty loud when she sings or raps. The music I make drowns it out just enough so that it's bearable for people to hear."

(You know, thinking about how loud she gets when simply talking, that makes sense.)

"Anyway, it's nice to hear that you guys are okay, but I gotta get to work finding that next Thang."

"Over and out, Marina," the captain said.

Once she was gone, he and Agent 3 looked at each other slightly worriedly. The captain then looked at me.

"Uh, Agent 8, would you mind giving us a minute to discuss something in private?" he asked politely.

I was a little confused, but I nodded and moved to the next train car. I notice that there were more people in the car I went into than in the one we were in. Actually, come to think of it, we were the only three people in that car. (Not that I'm complaining, mind you; I'm just happy we got more privacy.) I spied that Iso Padre guy again and decided to go..."talk" with him again.

"Ah, the young octopus girl," he said nicely. "Pleased to see you again. I'm hoping your quest for the promised land is still well on its way."

I nodded as I sat next to him. I spied a cute little Octarian doll that had fallen out of his suitcase and picked it up. It was soft and felt nice to hold in my arms. I couldn't explain why, but I felt a conflicting sense of loss and happiness...almost like I left something behind and regretted it, but I was happy I did. Iso Padre hummed as he saw me.

"I take it you like the doll?" he said. I nodded before offering it back to him. "Oh, no. You can keep it. Take it as a souvenir."

I grinned a little and hugged the doll. While looking at it, I started remembering the normal colored Octarians I apparently used to see often. All of them just walking or flying around usually getting outfitted for battle. I found it filling me with anxiety the more I thought about it. Suddenly, a chill went through my body when I realized who they were about to fight...

"Agent 3..." I mumbled.

"I can tell something troubles your mind, young one," the isopod said. "What is it?"

I didn't know how to express what I was thinking verbally, so I didn't answer. (I still wanted to know why he had so many in his briefcase, but a part of me didn't want to ask.)

"I see you're an octopus of few words..." he continued. "It's fine. You don't have to speak."

I nodded in sincere thanks because I really had no idea how to tell him what was going through my mind.

I hadn't thought about it much before, but I was...slightly afraid of my past. The memories kept coming, and I kept finding out more and more about myself as I traversed the metro. I didn't like what I was a part of before I lost my memories. It felt cold, empty, harsh, and I really didn't want anything to do with it...but I couldn't escape without consequences. It left me wondering if I wanted to know more or if I wanted to begin anew...?

And then there's Agent 3 and the captain. I knew they wanted to help me now, but something about how they reacted when they saw me kept nagging at me. The captain was ready to attack, and Agent 3 was going to do so albeit reluctantly. But I couldn't count him out of the picture, either. He did sorta attack first...on both occasions where we "first" met. He was just following orders and keeping his people safe...

No...on both occasions, he did it because he was mostly forced to fight. He had me cornered...I was defenseless, but he still let me go. He could've ended me right then and there, but he chose not to, and all I wanted to do was ask him "Why?" I gathered that our species weren't on the most friendly terms, but I didn't want to be his enemy...not anymore. But it made me wonder, what was the history between us?

I suddenly remembered Pearl and Marina...those two are different species, but they seemed really close...

"Wait...how did they meet in the first place?" I thought. "That armor and goggles Marina was wearing...it kinda looked like ones I saw in my memories...but is it true? Was she part of the same army I was a part of?"

I decided to ask her about it when I got the chance. That chance would've been sooner, but the train screeched to a halt pulling me back from my thoughts.

"Looks like your companions are disembarking," Iso Padre said as he pointed to the captain and Agent 3 knocking on the door to the cart to get my attention. They began getting out of the train.

I hurriedly followed them...before stopping to get my doll...

"Thank...you..." I said to him. He nodded, and I took off for the pair.

Outside was the central station once again, and Agent 3 was rolling the Thang on its side. He set it down gently next to the first one. He examined the two.

"Hmm..." he said. "These look pretty weird...but kinda familiar..."

"What are you reminded of?" the captain asked.

"I don't know...but it's giving me an uneasy feeling. Are you guys sure this is the _only_ way of getting back to the surface?"

"According to this telephone, it is."

"Telephone?"

"That would be me," the telephone spoke up surprising him. "I see that you brought another Thang. Slammin'!"

"It seriously talks like that...?" he whispered to me. I nodded with a heavy sigh.

"You are one bad mama jama...Rock on!" The telephone then went out. There was an awkward silence at what we just heard, but we shook it off to get back onto the train.

"So let's see here," the captain said. "We have half of those Thangs, and it's obvious that they come in different shapes and sizes. We'd better keep a sharp eye out for those last two."

"Wait..." Agent 3 began. "Oh...OH! I think I found another one before!"

"Really?!"

Pearl and Marina came back in through the radio at that moment.

"Where did you see it?" Marina asked. "Do you remember?"

"It was at a place called 'Smash and Dash Station'...and it's pretty easy to get to."

"Well, don't just sit there doing nothing!" Pearl exclaimed. "Get to it so you guys can grab it and go!"

"Done and done." He selected the station as he said that, and the train lurched forward. We all sat down, and the girls started talking with the captain again. Agent 3 sat by me.

"I like your new doll, Eight," he said. "Where'd you get it?"

I pointed to the other train car.

"Oh, someone in there gave it to you? Well, that was nice. And it does look cute."

I held it closely...this was my chance to go ahead and ask.

"Um...A-Agent 3...?" I whispered.

"What is it?" he asked.

"W-Were we...e-enemies before...?"

He fell silent for a minute. That didn't give me much hope.

"Well..." he began. "The two of us specifically weren't enemies...and we still aren't. But our species', on the other hand...that's another story..."

I had a feeling something was off about being in close proximity to Inklings, but if one is right next to me telling me that there was a reason for it, I needed to know. It might help me just a little.

"What happened...?" I said.

"I don't know if you'll like it, Eight..." he said worriedly. I set down my doll and took his hands. I looked at him pleadingly.

"Please...t-tell me...everything..."

He sighed.

"Alright..." he relented. "But keep in mind, I warned you..."

I braced myself for the whole story. It may not truly get my memories back, but at least I have more information about where I came from...

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ **And so ends another chapter. And off I go into hiatus again until next time. But hopefully, I'll be back somewhere in May. But until then, I hope you liked this chapter or it at least kept you satisfied until the next one is ready to come out.**

 **Either way, thanks for reading! See you soon!**


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